The Pull to the Dark
by EsmeAmelia
Summary: COMPLETE. AU. In a universe where Ben Solo never turned to the dark side, he starts having nightmares about the dark side taking his child.
1. Chapter 1

AN: Hello, I still haven't bought Lucasfilm from Disney, so I still don't own Star Wars. This takes place in my AU (which I share with my friend RensKnight) where Ben doesn't turn to the dark side. Basic rundown: Young Ben tells his parents about Snoke invading his mind, Luke drives Snoke out of his mind, Ben grows up to be a doctor and marries my OC Ara Greer, who's a mechanic.

"The Pull to the Dark"

By EsmeAmelia

Chapter 1

Darkness.

Ben saw nothing in the dark, but the persistent sense that he was going somewhere pushed him forward. As for where he was going, he couldn't remember – he only knew it was _somewhere._

Then came the sound of a lightsaber activating.

The red, flaming light cut through the darkness, burning Ben's eyes. He had to blink a few times before his mind comprehended how this was unlike any lightsaber he'd seen before – two glowing extensions shaped the blade like a sword and its light danced like fire. Maybe it was _actual_ fire – the heat it emitted felt like it could burn Ben's skin.

"Ben Solo . . ."

The low, menacing voice sent his head spinning and froze his heart as a face emerged from the darkness – no, not a face, a mask. Black with silver around the eye area, expressionless, reflecting the lightsaber's fiery glow in what would be its eyes.

"Who are you?" Ben whispered.

"You know me," said the voice, the mask staring into Ben's eyes.

"No . . . I don't . . ." The words came out in a hoarse, uncertain voice.

The mask's eyes – if there were any eyes behind the mask – stared into Ben's as if piercing through him. "I'm you."

His breath burst into a string of desperate pants. "No . . . no . . ."

" 'No, no,' " the voice mocked. "Yes, I'm you. Or I'm what you _could _have been." He raised the lightsaber until it was inches away from Ben's throat, Ben reflexively shut his eyes and turned away, but the blazing heat still drew sweat from his pores.

"I'm what you almost were. Strong, fearless, invincible – not the whimpering child you chose to be instead." Now the heat felt like it was searing Ben's skin as the blade's hum buzzed in his ears. "Look at you, whimpering even now. Yes, whimper, whimper, whimper like a pathetic baby."

Indeed he _was_ whimpering, but he couldn't make himself stop, nor could he keep his body from shaking. Droplets were racing down his face – maybe sweat, maybe tears, maybe both.

"Weakling," the voice still taunted. "If you had become me, you could have protected those you love, but now . . ." The voice seemed to be relishing every word. ". . . now perhaps your _daughter _will become me instead!"

"NO!"

. . .

Ben's cry followed him into the waking world, where his eyes shot open again to darkness, but this time a little of Coruscant's nighttime lights granted some visibility and let him know where he was. No frightening mask, no burning lightsaber, no threatening voice. Home, in bed, his wife snoring next to him. Safe.

But _was_ it safe?

He rolled over to face his wife. Ara's slumbering face glistened slightly in the city lights, her curly black hair spreading in various angles over the pillow. Ben reached over and placed his hand on her heavily pregnant stomach, feeling for their baby girl through the blankets. Yes, there was that little life, the soul connecting to him through the Force as if the baby were already wrapping her fingers around his. Tiny, innocent, precious.

Could the dark side already want her?

Ben's lungs felt like they were being crushed as his senses further brushed the tiny soul, feeling her wordlessly responding. She was Force-sensitive, not that it surprised Ben any.

It just terrified him.

"_Now perhaps your daughter will become me instead . . ."_

It was a dream . . . just a dream . . . no, he was just fooling himself. It would only be a dream if he were _normal_, but he wasn't. He was blessed and cursed with the Force and his daughter was too. Ignoring this could put her in danger of . . . of . . .

"_Now perhaps your daughter will become me instead . . ."_

The baby nudged her father's hand as if begging him to protect her and his eyes welled up. The flaming sword of a lightsaber flashed behind his eyelids every time he blinked, taunting him, daring him to stand up to it and its shadowy master.

"I won't let him hurt you, sweetheart," he whispered, though he doubted himself the instant the words were out of his mouth.

Though he lay back down and tried to let his wife's snores calm him, he didn't sleep for the rest of the night.

. . .

Ben entered the patient's room in a daze, feeling like he could fall asleep standing up. Two cups of caf this morning had done no good in getting rid of the drowsiness and though he had wanted to tell Ara about the nightmare, he'd found himself unable to speak when he tried to do so, as if the figure in the dream had overtaken his will.

"_I'm what you almost were . . ."_

Ben shook his head like a lothcat after scratching its ears. The patient, he had to focus on the patient.

"Hello, my name is Ben Solo," he said in his professional voice. "What seems to be the problem?"

The Togruta man in the hospital bed flinched before speaking. "Fell down stairs. Leg hurts."

Ben took a deep breath. "Is it all right with you if I touch your leg with the Force and try to assess the level of damage? I promise you it won't hurt."

The patient shrugged. "Sure, go ahead."

Ben held out his hand over the patient's injured leg, closing his eyes and trying to release himself into the Force.

"_You cannot protect your daughter."_

His eyes shot open, a gasp emitting from his mouth.

"What?" the patient asked, his eyes bulging. "Is something wrong? I thought I just had a break or something, but is it worse?"

Ben swallowed, realizing that he had needlessly frightened the patient. "I'm sorry . . . no, it's not your leg, it's . . ." What was he supposed to say? Telling the patient that he'd heard a voice in his head definitely wouldn't be a good idea. "I didn't sleep well last night and I'm tired." Well, that was true. "Can I try again?"

"Sure."

Ben raised his hand again, but no sooner had he closed his eyes than the masked figure from his dream appeared behind his eyelids. They shot open again, blinking at the patient. "I'm . . . I'm sorry."

The patient flinched a little, but he looked like he was trying to conceal his pain. "It's all right."

"No, it's _not_ all right," said Ben. "I'm sorry, but I don't think I'm in a good condition to take care of you. I'll send in another doctor to look after you as soon as possible."

The patient gave a hesitant nod. "Okay, I guess."

. . .

Ben's supervisors told him to go home and get some rest, but while he did indeed go home and change into more comfortable clothes, he didn't think he could rest. He turned on the holovid and slumped down into an armchair, trying to at least pretend to watch the pod race that was playing – usually he loved watching pod races, but now he couldn't keep track of which pod was which or who was winning. The fog in his mind kept pushing his eyelids down, down, down . . .

"_You can't protect your daughter. You chose to be weak . . ."_

"Ben sweetheart, are you home?"

Ben jolted awake at the sound of Ara's voice. He opened his eyes in time to see his wife trudge into the living room and slump down on the sofa. "Whew, I dunno if I can last another week before maternity leave starts. Try fixing speeders with a baby inside you making her own demands." She yawned, stretching out her arms and legs and kicking off her shoes. "Come over here, baby, I need some pampering."

Ben rose from the armchair and settled himself at the end of the sofa, where Ara gently placed her feet in his lap. He eased her socks off her feet, not caring about the sudden odor – in fact, he welcomed it, since it at least distracted him for a moment.

"Ben?" Ara asked as her husband started pressing on her calloused toes. "Are you okay?"

Ben cleared his throat, trying to ignore how his stomach was twisting and making him feel like vomiting. "Ara . . . honey . . . there's something I need to tell you."

"What is it?"

Ben took a deep breath.

"I had a nightmare about the dark side taking our baby."


	2. Chapter 2

AN: Thanks for reading and reviewing!

"The Pull to the Dark"

By EsmeAmelia

Chapter 2

Ara could only stare as her husband told her about his dreams, her sky-blue eyes widening until redness appeared at the edges of them. Once he finished, she glanced at her stomach as if expecting the baby to give her some answer. "It was just a dream," she finally said, sounding like she was trying to convince herself as well as Ben.

Ben shook his head as he massaged her soles. "We can't think like that. Not with something like this."

"So, what, you want to think like your _grandfather _did instead?"

"No!" Ben's mouth went dry at the mention of his grandfather. "Of _course_ not!"

"Well, isn't something like this what drove him over the edge? Nightmares about his pregnant wife dying? You said this thing in your dream claimed to be dark side you or something – what if it's some sort of trap to lure you to the dark side?"

"And what about our daughter?" Ben ran his fingers between her toes, scraping out the dirt that had wedged itself between them.

Ara put a hand on her abdomen. "She's not even _born_ yet. How can the dark side take a baby?"

Ben too looked at her stomach, again feeling that little soul touch his. "Before my uncle drove that voice out of my head, I don't remember a time when I didn't hear it. It was _always _with me. Even when it didn't speak, I could feel its presence in my mind." He ran his fingers up and down the sides of Ara's feet. "For all I know, it _was_ speaking to me when I was a baby."

He looked back up at Ara, who was blinking at him. "Okay . . . so . . . _if _the dark side's after the baby . . . what can we do about it?"

The question hung in the air with no clear answer. Somehow it felt wrong to say, "I don't know" and admit that they were helpless against whatever this was – it was like giving the figure from his dream extra power.

"Maybe Luke could help?" Ara suggested when it became obvious that Ben wasn't going to answer. "I mean, he drove that thing out of you when you were little – maybe he could do the same for the baby."

"It's not that simple," Ben muttered.

"I know that," said Ara.

"No, you _don't _know!" Ben felt his chest tighten. "You weren't _there!_ You have _no_ idea what that was like!"

"Okay, you're right, I _don't._ I have no idea what it was like for you to go through that, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't see if Luke can help us."

"And what if he dismisses it as me having bad dreams because I'm stressed? What then?"

"We _are _stressed. Between work and the baby coming, we're both stressed. What if it really _was _just a bad dream?"

Ben's fingers trembled as he traced them around her heels. "We can't gamble our daughter's life on that."

. . .

Luke's hologram looked worn out – even his beard was scruffy as if he hadn't trimmed it recently. "Ben, Ara," he said in a tired voice, "I was hoping you'd call. In fact, I was about to call you."

Ben swallowed. "What do you mean?"

"I've been feeling a disturbance in the Force for these last few days," said Luke. "At first it was vague and I didn't know where it was coming from, but today I sensed that it had something to do with you."

Ara gasped slightly, again putting a hand on her stomach. "Are you sure?"

Luke's grave expression was enough of an answer. Ben remembered that look from long ago, when a dark presence had nearly torn their family apart. Once that memory was triggered, he told his uncle everything about his nightmare without pausing to let him speak.

When he finished, he expected Luke to tell him to calm down or warn him not to do anything rash, but instead his uncle stared, unblinking, mouth agape, as if the baby would leap out of Ara's womb and swear allegiance to the dark side. "I think you should both come over here," he said in a hushed voice after a moment. "As soon as possible."

"Do you know what's going on?" Ara asked.

"No," said Luke, "so we should all try to find out together before it's too late."

Once they hung up, Ara let out a short sigh. "Well, guess I'd better call my boss and see if I can start maternity leave a week early."

"I should call the hospital too," said Ben. "And my dad – if we want to get to Luke's Temple World as fast as possible, we should probably use the fastest ship to get there."

. . .

A baby's cry echoed around the dark, terrified, helpless. She lay on a table, wrapped in a white blanket, flailing her arms and legs as if something was attacking her.

"Shh . . . shhh . . ." Ben whispered, "it's all right." He reached for the tiny girl, brushing his fingers through her tufts of black hair. "It's all right."

The baby kept crying, her face red and her eyes scrunched up and emitting thick, hot tears. "It's all right," Ben repeated, brushing the tears from her face, though more kept coming.

Then his senses perked up, sending chills through his body.

Something was coming for the child.

He dropped to his knees, shielding the baby with his body, unable to see the attacker yet knowing it was there. "Don't worry," he whispered. "It's not going to hurt you, I won't let it."

The baby's screams stabbed in his ears as the chills bit through his body. "It won't hurt you, it won't hurt you, it won't hurt you . . ."

All of a sudden, there was a lightsaber handle in his hand.

He leapt to his feet, knowing, _knowing _that only the lightsaber could defeat the invisible enemy and protect the baby. Without any hesitation, he pressed the button to activate the weapon.

A blade of red flames shot out.

"Ben! Ben, wake _up!"_

Again his eyes shot open to the dim nighttime city lights and again he was in bed. Ara was shaking his shoulder, still calling his name.

"Ben sweetie, are you awake? Talk to me!"

Ben inhaled, filling his lungs. "The baby . . ."

Ara ran her fingers through his sweat-drenched hair. "The baby's fine, honey." She flinched a little. "She's kicking right now, in fact. I think she's worried about her daddy."

"Well her daddy's worried about _her."_

There was hesitance in Ara's voice. "Well, think about how we're leaving tomorrow. Hopefully we'll be able to find some answers."

Ben found himself gulping at that word _hopefully. _He ran his hand over her belly, almost instantly feeling that little soul touching him through the Force. "And what if we _can't _find an answer?"

Ara wrapped her arms around her husband, but she had no response to his question.


	3. Chapter 3

AN: Thanks for reading and reviewing!

"The Pull to the Dark"

By EsmeAmelia

Chapter 3

"You really don't have to come," Ben said the next day. "I only asked if we could borrow the Falcon."

"Yeah," said Han, pointing a knowing finger at his son, that crooked grin pulling at his mouth, "and if you want the Falcon, you get me and Chewie too. Package deal."

"I know how to fly it," Ben weakly protested.

"Well you can inherit her when I'm dead," said Han. "So long as I'm breathing, I fly her."

"Come on Ben," Leia said from the bottom of the Falcon's ramp, her eyes narrowed in that senator look. "Did you really think for a moment that we _wouldn't_ come with you?"

"What your mother said," Han said as he ducked into the ship. "If the dark side or whatever the hell this is is after our grandkid, we're comin'."

Ben let out a long sigh, knowing it was pointless to argue. He glanced down the ramp, where Leia was embracing Ara and telling her not to worry. Why did people always say not to worry when there were major things to worry about? He lingered at the top of the ramp, waiting for his wife and mother to join him.

Sure enough, once Leia reached her son, she wrapped her arms around him, squeezing him like she had when he was little. "Be strong, sweetheart," she murmured.

Ben could only swallow as he returned the embrace.

. . .

"Leia?" Ara asked once they were in hyperspace, easing herself into the game table seat, careful not to let her large abdomen get wedged between the seat and the table. "Can I ask you something?"

"Of course," said Leia, sliding into the seat across from her daughter-in-law. "What is it?"

Ara brushed her fingers over the gameboard, absentmindedly tracing the lines. "When you were pregnant with Ben, did you ever feel something . . . _not right_?" She looked up at her mother-in-law, her eyes wide. "I mean, I don't have the Force. I have no idea what it's like to have those extra senses – no matter how much Ben tells me about it, I can never _really_ understand it."

Leia's eyes briefly closed as she swallowed. "I did feel _something _when I was pregnant. Only a few times, but it was like something was invading me. Like I was being . . . I don't know if this is the best word to use, but it's the only way I can think of to describe it . . . raped."

Ara glanced down at her abdomen, which stretched her white shirt thin even though it was supposed to be a maternity shirt and let her glance at her skin through it. "Did you ever tell Han about that?"

"Not when I was pregnant. I didn't want to frighten him and I tried to convince myself that it was just nerves . . . but damn, was I wrong. If I hadn't kept it a secret, maybe it could have been stopped when I was still pregnant and Ben wouldn't have had to go through that trauma."

"Or maybe trying to get the thing out of Ben when he was still in utero would have killed him." Ara felt herself trembling as she looked back up into her mother-in-law's deep brown eyes. "Do you think that's happening to me?"

"I don't know," Leia said too quickly.

"So you think it _is_ happening to me."

"Like I said, I don't know."

Ara groaned, resting her elbow on the table and digging her fist into her cheek. "I hate I-don't-knows. I'm used to problems that can be _solved._ You know, you get a broken speeder and you fix it, and if a part's broken beyond repair, you order a new part."

Leia gave her daughter-in-law a sheepish smile. "This isn't as simple as fixing speeders, but that doesn't mean it _can't_ be solved."

. . .

Ben couldn't sleep, but that might have been because he didn't _want _to sleep. Sleep meant dreams and dreams meant returning to whatever was haunting him. Maybe he _shouldn't_ sleep. Maybe sleeping would make him vulnerable to whatever this was.

With a long sigh, he slid out of the bunk, careful not to wake Ara, and made his way out of the cabin, though he didn't really know where he was going. He passed the doors to the other cabins and soon found himself in the lounge. There was a slight chill in the air due to the heat turning down during the nighttime cycle, which made Ben wish he'd put on a robe over his thin pajamas, but returning to the cabin to get one wasn't an appealing thought.

"Can't sleep?"

The raspy, familiar voice made his stomach jump. He whirled around and there was Han, wearing light blue pajamas, his gray hair mussed.

"Sorry Dad," Ben stammered. "I didn't mean to wake you."

Han shrugged. "I don't blame you for havin' insomnia. C'mon, son." He led his son over to the wet bar. "So long as we're up, we might as well have a drink."

"You know I don't like alcohol."

"Fine," said Han, opening the mini fridge. "Then have one of the caffeine-free sodas we stocked for the pregnant lady." He tossed a can of cola to his son. "I'm sure Ara won't mind if you have one."

Ben sighed as he sat at the bar and flicked the can open. He sipped the cold beverage as Han got himself a can of beer and sat next to his son. "Ben, look," said Han. "I've never understood the Force. I dunno why it even _has _a dark side." He took a swig of his beer. "I just know that when we almost lost you to the dark side . . . it was the most horrifying day of my life."

An image flashed into Ben's head. He saw a small boy, screaming in pain one moment and then speaking in a low, growly voice, shouting insults at his parents, transformed into a puppet of the dark lord trying to take him . . .

Ben's hands started shaking, nearly spilling his drink. He slapped one hand with the other in an attempt to calm himself down, but to no avail – they kept shaking, shaking, shaking.

Han gave his son a guilty look. "You read my mind, didn't you?"

"I didn't _mean_ to!" Ben slapped his wrist again, but still his hands shook. "I can't always help it."

Han swallowed. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to be remembering that day."

Ben gave a humorless snicker. "I'm the one who read your mind and _you're_ the one who's apologizing?" Slap, slap, slap, but the shaking kept on.

"Ben, Ben!" said Han, grabbing his son's trembling wrists. "Deep breath. C'mon." He took a long inhale through his nose and let it out through his mouth. "See, like your uncle taught us both."

The father and son sat in silence for a few seconds, breathing in and out, in and out, savoring the air whooshing in and out of their lungs until Ben finally resumed control of his hands.

"There, feel better?" asked Han. "I may not have the Force, but at least I know how to breathe."

"Thanks," Ben mumbled before taking a large gulp of his soda, letting the sweet, cold drink clear his head. "Maybe we shouldn't even be having a child."

"Don't say that, son."

Ben ran his finger around the rim of his can. "Maybe the dark side cursed our family when my grandfather was unnaturally created."

"Look buddy, I know you're scared, but don't go assumin' stuff like that." Han took another swig of his beer. "Luke'll figure things out, you'll see."

"You don't know that."

"Okay, I don't, but it ain't gonna do any good to think you shouldn't be havin' a kid." He gently reached over and put a hand on his son's shoulder. "C'mere, give your old man a hug."

Father and son wrapped their arms around each other, Han squeezing Ben close to him as if he were still a little boy. Ben remembered his father's hugs being a sanctuary from his frequent nightmares and found himself wishing he were still naïve enough to believe that a Dad hug could protect him from everything.

"You should go back to bed," Ben said after they pulled out of the embrace.

Han gulped down the last of his beer. "I ain't goin' back to bed until _you_ do."

"That's petty."

"No, it's called a dad not wanting his son to be sleep-deprived when we get to Luke's Temple." Han gave that oh-so-familiar cocky grin. "Now I know you don't want _me_ to be sleep-deprived, so if you care about your old man, you'll go back to bed."

Ben let out a long sigh. "Fine. I can't promise I'll actually sleep, though."

Han patted his son's shoulder again. "So long as you try, that's all I ask."

"All right," said Ben. He finished his soda and rose from his seat. "Good night, Dad."

Han rose as well and managed to plant a kiss on his son's cheek before Ben could protest. "Night, son."


	4. Chapter 4

AN: Thanks for reading and reviewing! Yes, Rey's Luke's daughter in this universe – it's an AU after all. Anyway, RIP Peter Mayhew – I wrote the Chewie scene in this chapter in his honor.

"The Pull to the Dark"

By EsmeAmelia

Chapter 4

Ara woke up the next morning to find Ben's side of the bunk empty. She gulped, wondering if he'd had another nightmare or if he had slept at all. Maybe he'd had a _different_ nightmare, something even more threatening.

"_I felt like I was being raped."_

With a few grunts and little aches, she pushed her rotund body to a sitting position and stared down at her stomach, covered by her yellow silk nightgown. Though her bladder was demanding attention, she made no further moves to get up. Leia's words were repeating themselves in her mind over and over again.

"_I felt like I was being raped."_

Ara stared at her stomach as if it would speak to her if she stared long enough. "Are you all right, baby?' she whispered.

The baby kicked, but was it a happy kick or a frightened kick? She pressed her hand down on her stomach as if trying to feel for the baby's soul like Ben said he could, but all she felt was another kick. Her breath shortened, chills spreading through her body. Something could be after her baby _right now_, but she was blind to it, deaf to it, cut off from whatever wanted her child. Her little girl could be in pain, terrified, the dark side slowly eating away at her _soul_, but Ara _couldn't help her._

Aside from a few moments of mild envy, Ara had never wanted her husband's powers, yet now she closed her eyes, focusing on her womb, trying to send her center of consciousness to her baby. _Feel something, dammit, FEEL SOMETHING!_ But again, nothing came. She was _cut away _from the baby.

Ben entered the cabin, a stumble in his step and shadows under his eyes. "Breakfast is ready," he mumbled, stumbling over to the bunk so he could lean over and kiss his wife.

"Ben," Ara said, grabbing his hand and pressing it on her stomach, "can you feel anything from our daughter?"

Ben blinked at her. "I feel her soul touching me, like always."

"But do you feel anything _else?"_

He looked at her with wide eyes, glistening with a layer of unshed tears. "I sense that she's frightened."

Ara couldn't stop herself from gasping. "Do you think the dark side's trying to get her _now?_ Like, at this moment?"

Ben swallowed. "I don't know." He inhaled through his nose, trying to block a sniffle.

"You can cry," Ara found herself saying, her hand trembling on top of Ben's as her other hand reached up and ran through his sweat-drenched hair. "You don't have to toughen up for me." The baby bumped her again, making her flinch. "I think the little one's hungry. She's filling up her mommy's bladder too."

Ben leaned over and kissed her stomach. "Then you should take care of her. We'll meet you at breakfast."

As he rose, Ara noticed the tears streaming down his face.

. . .

Little was said at breakfast, but Ben preferred it that way. What was there to talk about besides whatever was threatening the baby? His stomach flipped as he took a spoonful of bland-tasting Corellian oatmeal, but he didn't know if it was actually bland or if his mind was too occupied to pay any attention to his taste buds. It was only a few bites before his stomach started rejecting the meal, warning him that it would start purging excess food if he ate any more.

Suddenly he became aware that he was gasping. Waves of negative energy crashed into him from all directions – fear, he realized. Cold, hopeless _fear,_ and not just his own. It was flowing from Ara, Leia, Han, Chewie – _all_ their fear was mixing with his own, crushing his chest, shaking his hands, welling up his eyes. He gripped the edge of the table in order to prevent himself from knocking over anyone's breakfast.

Then suddenly, a soft, strong, furry hand was massaging his head. [It's all right, Ben,] a familiar, tender voice growled. [It's all right.]

"N-no, it's _not _all right."

Chewie wrapped his arms around Ben, much in the manner he once did when Ben was a child. Ben had long grown out of the habit of calling the Wookiee "Uncle Chewie," but now, enveloped in his soft, warm embrace, he was almost tempted to revert back to that habit.

[Your daughter will be all right,] Chewie growled in his most tender voice.

"You don't know that," said Ben, his voice muffled by the Wookiee's fur, and Chewie only responded by running his paw up and down Ben's back.

Han sometimes said that a Wookiee hug was the best therapy in the galaxy. Ben didn't believe that, and he didn't think Han usually believed it either, but Wookiee hugs were at least warm and soothing, like fluffy heated blankets.

His eyelids were drooping, his head nodding into Chewie's chest, but the small voice in his mind screamed _No! Don't fall asleep! You're have the dream again!_ and jolted him awake. He pushed himself out of the embrace, momentarily wondering if he was being rude, but Chewie seemed to understand, given that he rubbed Ben's head again.

[There's still hope, Ben,] Chewie growled in a fatherly voice, though no one else voiced any agreement.

. . .

It had been years since Ben had last entered Luke's Jedi Temple, but nearly everything in the entrance hall was still as he remembered it. The small fountain still spurted out geysers in the center of the hall. The statues of long-ago Jedi, including Yoda and Obi-Wan Kenobi, still stood against the wall. Ben felt his chest tightening as the group passed the statue of his grandfather. With its heroic stance holding up its lightsaber and determined face, no one would guess the fate that befell Anakin, though of course everyone knew anyway. Ben glanced over at Ara, seeing that she was gripping her stomach as if trying to protect the baby from suffering the same fate.

The only thing that was different from Ben's training days was that his cousin was sitting on the floor, leading a circle of young teenagers in a breathing exercise.

"Another breath in through your nose," Rey was instructing, her eyes closed. "Savor the air, let it fill your lungs, then slowly let it out."

"Rey?" Ben exclaimed. "You're teaching now?"

Rey's eyes shot open and she looked up at her cousin with a slight grin. "Hello Ben, it's been a while." She then nodded at her students. "Everyone, meet my cousin Ben Solo."

A pale-skinned Twi'lek boy cocked his head up at Ben. "Yeah, the Jedi doctor . . . hey guys, look, there are his _parents!_ And _Chewbacca!"_ At the mention of Han and Leia and Chewie, the boy and all his classmates scrambled to their feet and rushed towards the older heroes, leaving Ben and Ara to knowingly shake their heads.

Rey snickered a little as she too got to her feet. "I think they'll be busy for a while. Anyway, answering your question: no, I'm not teaching, just assisting here and there. Dad thinks I might be ready to officially teach soon, though."

Despite all that was happening, Ben managed to smile a bit at the thought of his little cousin growing up. Rey, on the other hand, turned to Ara, a melancholy look on her face. "Ara, I'm so sorry." She swallowed. "That's probably not much help, but I don't know what else to say."

Ara wrapped an arm around her cousin-in-law and patted her on the shoulder. "Well, I probably wouldn't know what to say either." She glanced down at her pregnant stomach. "I don't even know what to say when it's happening to _me._"

"Master Luke! They're here!"

"Yes 3PO, I can see that."

All heads – guest and Jedi trainee alike – turned towards the stairs, where Luke was descending with 3PO by his side. Normally there would be hugs and laughter and exchanges of how everything was going in their respective corners of the galaxy, but today Luke simply strode up to Ben and Ara, a worried look in his eyes.

"Come on," he said. "We need to talk right away."


	5. Chapter 5

AN: Thanks for reading and reviewing!

"The Pull to the Dark"

By EsmeAmelia

Chapter 5

Ara had expected that they would talk in one of the Temple's meeting rooms, but instead Luke led them to the medical ward. Her insides tightened a bit at the sight of the dark gray, expressionless medical droids and the strong, too-clean smell of antiseptic.

"Luke, do you think I'm about to go into labor or something?" she asked in a nervous voice.

"I _hope_ not," said Luke, striding up to one of the beds, "but I thought we should do this here just in case something happens."

"In case something happens?" Ara found herself gripping her abdomen again. "Exactly _what_ sort of 'something' do you think is gonna happen?"

"I don't know," said Luke, "which is why I want to take precautions. Would you mind getting on one of the beds?"

Ara felt her husband put his hand on her shoulder. "It's all right, Ara. I'm not a maternity doctor, after all, so I feel better with these droids here."

Ara of course knew Ben wasn't a maternity doctor, but she would have still felt more comfortable just with him than with the droids. There was just something unsettling about those gray, unemotional faces. Sometimes she wondered if the manufacturers of medical droids were trying to make them look as menacing as possible. At least she would have actual living doctors when she gave birth – assuming that whatever Luke was planning didn't trigger early labor. No, no, she shouldn't think about that.

"Ara Solo, please remove your shoes and lie down on the bed," said one of the droids in a stiff, deep, unnatural voice.

She obeyed, after which Luke stood over the bed with Ben, Leia, Han, Chewie, and Rey gathered behind him. "Ara?" the old Jedi asked. "Is it all right with you if I try to touch the baby with the Force?"

"Ben does that all the time."

"I know, but this would be a little different from that." Luke stared into Ara's eyes. "I would be probing as deeply as I could."

Ara gave a forced snicker. "You make it sound sexual."

Luke didn't laugh. "Well, is it all right?"

Ara glanced at Ben, who was squeezing his pocket – she figured he must have his father's lucky dice there. "Yes," she said, hoping she sounded more confident than she felt. "I'm ready."

Luke slowly held his hand up over Ara's abdomen. "Try to relax."

"Relax? That's easier said than done."

Luke said nothing as his eyes closed and his face took on that look of Jedi concentration, as if he were drifting into another level of consciousness. Maybe he was – Ara still wasn't sure exactly how reaching out with the Force worked.

"_I felt like I was being raped."_

No, no, don't think about that – Luke wasn't _raping _her like . . . was he? She leaned back on the firm, flat pillow and closed her eyes, trying to relax like the Jedi told her to. This wasn't all that different from when the doctor examined her or when Ben said he felt their baby's soul in her womb, right?

Just relax . . .

But something was twitching inside her.

No, it only started as a twitch, but then it became something stronger. Relax, she kept telling herself, relax, but it kept on increasing its tension, fluttering within her like some foreign being. No, no, relax, relax . . . it was still twitching, more violently now, as if a creature were crawling up and down her insides . . .

Pain!

It came as suddenly as a blasterbolt, causing her to cry out. "Stop it!" she gasped as her eyes shot open. "Whatever you're doing, STOP IT!"

Luke's eyes opened and his face relaxed, but the pain didn't subside. Ara darted her focus to the medical droid. "Examine me, QUICK! Make sure the baby's not hurt!"

. . .

The pain let up during the examination, but the anxiety did not, even when the droid said both Ara and the baby seemed to be in excellent health. Now the family was seated on the couches in the Temple's library, Ben massaging his wife's shoulders and the others glancing awkwardly at each other.

"I'm sorry," Luke finally said, glancing at the floor.

"Did you at least find anything out?" Ben asked, an edge of hardness in his voice.

Luke sighed and shook his head. "When I tried to connect with the baby, something pushed me back – maybe it's the same thing that's been causing Ben's nightmares."

Rey's hands were twitching in her lap. "Well, you have an idea, don't you?" She nudged her father's shoulder. "Don't you?"

Ben was reminded of when Rey was a child and she always expected her father to have solutions for everything. "Rey, even a Jedi Master can't know everything."

Rey glared briefly at her cousin. "I _know_ that, but surely there must be _something _else we can do."

"Yeah," Han interjected. "You ain't gonna give up just like that, are you?"

Finally Luke looked back up at his nephew and niece-in-law. "I _did_ have a thought, but you're not going to like it."

"What?" Ben asked.

Luke's gaze was on the floor again. "When you had your chronic nightmares as a child, something was actively trying to get you. If the same thing is happening again, perhaps I could connect with it while you slept."

"Wait . . ." Ben's eyes bulged, "are you saying you want to _watch me sleep?"_

"And Ara," said Luke. "Since she's the one carrying the baby, she's in danger too."

Ben felt his wife's shoulders tense up in his hands, communicating that she didn't like the idea any more than he did.

"Look," said Leia, "Han and I were witness to Ben's nightmares all the time and I never sensed any opportunity to connect with the dark side or whatever you think you can do."

"This is different," said Luke, looking his sister in the eye. "This time it's after an _unborn baby._ Who knows what it could do to Ben or Ara when trying to reach their daughter?"

"So, what?" asked Han, raising his eyebrow. "You're gonna stand over their bed tonight and stare at them all night?"

"No, I was thinking more along the lines of using security cameras and watching them from another room."

"All night?" asked Rey. "So you'll be sleep-deprived for your classes?"

"Well, maybe you guys could help me?" Luke looked from Rey to Leia to Han to Chewie. "We could work in shifts and if something unusual happens, you would notify me immediately."

The tension under Ben's hands wasn't subsiding no matter how much he tried to massage it away. "Hey, am I allowed to say that this is making me _really_ uncomfortable?" said Ara.

"Well, we already know you snore," said Han.

"Not as loudly as _you_ do, honey," said Leia, playfully poking her husband in the ribs.

[_I_ think it's a good idea,] said Chewie. [It's worth a try, at least.]

Ben bit his lip. "All right," he finally said with extreme hesitation. "If Ara agrees, I'm willing to go through it for the baby's sake."

Luke looked at Ara. "Well, Ara?"

After a long moment, Ara finally sighed in compliance. "Okay, let's do it. I don't know if I'll actually sleep with you guys staring at me, though."


	6. Chapter 6

AN: Thanks for reading and reviewing!

"The Pull to the Dark"

By EsmeAmelia

Chapter 6

"Ben, are you asleep?"

"No."

Ara wrapped the covers over her shoulder as if that would block the security cameras or break their night vision or _something._ She wished she could just pretend she was back home with no one watching, but the level of darkness in the Temple bedrooms contrasted dramatically with the city lights back on Coruscant, making such a fantasy impossible. "Who do you think is staring at us right now?"

"Mom," Ben said with complete certainty. "She's taking the first watch."

Great, her mother-in-law was watching her sleep – it sounded like a horror holofilm. "I don't like this. I feel like I'm on display."

Ben reached over and ran his thumb down his wife's cheek. "When I was little, I'd sleep in my parents' bed after I had nightmares and I always felt better knowing they were there and I could sense their protective gaze on me." He sighed. "Of course, they usually fell back asleep long before I did. Many nights I was afraid to go back to sleep."

"Like tonight?"

Though Ara couldn't see her husband's face, she could hear the anxiety in his breathing. "I can handle being watched – I've had to monitor many patients while they slept, after all."

"But you're afraid of actually sleeping?"

He didn't need to reply for Ara to know the answer. She didn't even need the Force to know the answer. The baby kicked within her, as if she sensed that her parents were frightened – maybe she did. How much could a Force-sensitive baby know in the womb? "It must be terrifying, especially since tonight they _want _you to have the nightmares. Maybe tonight the dark side will screw with you and you'll actually have good dreams."

Ben snickered through his nose. "That wouldn't be the worst thing in the world."

Ara flinched as the baby bumped her again. "The baby's sure active tonight. Maybe she's not used to sleeping in a different bed."

"Really? Last I checked you brought your womb with you. That's her bed, right?"

Ara patted her stomach. "Okay, you've got me there, but her mommy would still like to be back in our own bed. These sheets smell weird."

Her husband kissed her forehead. "Well, at least they're clean. When I was a student here, I didn't wash my sheets very often and my dad was even worse with _his _laundry."

They shared a snicker before Ara ran her fingers through her husband's already-sweaty hair. "Maybe your dad thought the sheets smelled weird too, so he decided to stink them up. I wouldn't put that past him." She abruptly stopped stroking his hair when a thought suddenly came to her. "Wait, do those cameras have sound? Did your mom just hear me say that?"

"I don't think they have sound, but I think she'd agree with you if she _did _hear you." Even in the dark, Ara could imagine her husband's wry smile.

"Well," she said, "your sense of humor is still intact even after all this."

"Only because you're here."

"Careful. If I weren't so very pregnant and your mother weren't watching us, you might start turning me on."

That actually stimulated a full-on laugh from Ben, though it only lasted for a moment before he shifted his weight, causing the mattress to creak loudly as he gently gripped his wife's side.

"You know something?" Ara asked.

"What?"

"I think I have a theory about why the old Jedi didn't allow their members to have families."

Ben gave a loud groan. "You _know_ why. They thought attachment led to valuing one life over many and they were afraid that it led to the dark side."

"Well, _besides_ that." Ara shifted her own weight so she could get closer to her husband, though doing so led to the baby giving a particularly rough kick. "Ow, maybe the baby's trying to sleep and we're keeping her up."

"Or maybe she senses that her grandmother's watching her and _that's _what's keeping her up," said Ben. "Anyway, what was your theory?"

"Maybe it was also a way of keeping the Force-sensitive population down."

Ara imagined that Ben's eyebrow was going up. "What?"

"Well, think about it. Force-sensitive Anakin has two Force-sensitive children, each one of which in turn has a Force-sensitive child, and now our baby will be Force-sensitive too. I think it's safe to say that the Force goes down through the generations." She flinched as the baby kicked again. "Now, obviously Force-sensitive babies can still be born to non-Force-sensitive parents – otherwise the old Jedi Order would have died out ages before Vader wiped them out – but if all the Jedi were having Force-sensitive children who in turn had more Force-sensitive children, the Force-sensitive population would have increased exponentially and . . ."

". . . and the more Force-sensitives there are, the more chance there is of the dark side taking one of them," Ben finished, his voice low and fearful as the pillow rustled from his head's sudden turning in her direction. "Are you saying we shouldn't be having a child?"

"No, of course I'm not saying that."

"But you're wondering it?"

Ara groaned. "If you want, you can read my mind and see that I'm not."

There was silence and Ara wondered if Ben was actually taking her up on that offer. She knew he never read her mind if he could help it – but she also knew he couldn't always help it.

"It's all right if you _were_ wondering it," he finally mumbled. "I've been wondering it too."

Ara swallowed, putting a hand on her stomach as if that would protect their daughter from whatever was haunting their family and hoping Ben wasn't reading her mind now and sensing her own doubts. No, she _didn't _think they shouldn't have a baby, she _didn't._ "Our daughter is a blessing," she said, her voice coming out feeble.

"Yes," Ben said slowly. "A blessing who's in danger."

. . .

Han yawned as he stumbled into the room where Luke was staring at the security monitors. "Shift's over, kid," he mumbled. "Go get some sleep."

Luke seemed hesitant to leave, but he slowly rose from his seat without taking his gaze off the monitors that showed Ben and Ara from the left, right, and above.

"Anything happen?" Han asked, unable to keep himself from yawning again.

Luke shook his head. "The cameras haven't shown anything and I haven't even sensed anything unusual."

"Maybe whatever it is is onto us," Han said as he eased himself into Luke's seat, hoping his old bones wouldn't give an embarrassing crack.

"Maybe," was the only acknowledgement Luke would give to that statement before pointing at the buzzer on the table. "Remember, notify me if _anything_ happens."

"I will, I will."

"And that means _anything_."

Han half-grinned as he looked up at his brother-in-law. "Does that include if they get up to go to the refresher?"

Luke groaned. "You know what I mean. Notify me if anything happens and _don't fall asleep."_

"Is that everything?"

Luke took a deep breath, probably trying to calm himself with the Force. "I guess so. Rey will come to relieve you in two hours."

"Kay. Night, kid."

"Good night."

Once Luke left, Han turned his attention to the monitors. Ben and Ara sleeping from three different angles – Ara's eyes squeezed tightly shut with her face almost sunk down into the pillow and Ben's mouth slightly open and his eyebrows creased. Already Han was reminded of those long nights when Ben was a child. He remembered praying desperately to whatever gods might be listening that his son would be able to have a good night's sleep without any nightmares, but most nights those prayers went unanswered. When Ben slept in his parents' bed, Han would gather him up into his arms as if shielding him from the bad dreams, though he knew that he couldn't do anything to protect his son from what was inside his head.

The night that Luke drove the voice out of Ben's mind, Han had thought it was over. Even when Ben started his Jedi training and Han had come to live here with him to give his parental support, he hadn't thought the thing would _actually_ come back.

He especially hadn't thought it would come for his grandchild.

Though it had been years since Han and Ben had lived here, Han still clearly remembered observing his son's training, hugging Ben when the pressure overwhelmed him, being there for his son as best he could but always aware that there were things about the Force that he'd never be able to understand.

Maybe he shouldn't even be on guard duty now. What if Ben was having a nightmare right now, but it wasn't affecting his body? Maybe the thing would choose now to strike since there was a non-Force-sensitive on guard duty and things could easily slip past him.

_Dammit, _Han really shouldn't have agreed to a guard shift. So what if refusing would have looked like he valued his beauty sleep more than his son? Better for Han to take the fall and look heartless than for him to _miss_ a threat when guarding.

He leaned forward, staring at the monitors, flicking his focus from one to the other to the other, wishing he had caf or something else to ensure that he'd keep awake. Two hours felt like a lifetime now.

He didn't know how long he'd been staring at the monitors when Ben twitched in his sleep, but the motion caused him to hold his breath. Was it a normal twitch or a notify-Luke twitch?

Ben twitched again.

Han's hand hovered over the buzzer, waiting for a sign that this might be something bad.

The next motion wasn't a twitch – it was a thrash, a thrash from one side to the other as his open mouth stretched as if emitting a scream. Force-sensitive or not, Han knew that this _definitely _counted as something bad.

He slammed his hand on the buzzer.


	7. Chapter 7

AN: Thanks for reading and reviewing! Sorry it took me a while to update – I had to study for my grad school exit exam, which took up a buttload of my time (but I passed!).

"The Pull to the Dark"

By EsmeAmelia

Chapter 7

"No . . . STOP! LEAVE HER ALONE!"

The scream shot into Ara's ears like a blasterbolt. Her mind jolted into awareness and her eyes opened to darkness. Her body twisted only to find that her husband's arms were locked around her, gripping her as if she were a lifeline.

"Ben?" she said, fruitlessly attempting to unclasp his fingers. "Wake up! Please!"

"LEAVE HER ALONE!" Ben's hands were pressing down on Ara's pregnant stomach to the point of pain.

"BEN!" Ara's furious attempts to unclasp his fingers remained fruitless. "Ben, STOP! You'll hurt the baby!"

A second later, the lights turned on and Luke burst into the room, followed by Leia, Han, and Rey. Rey grabbed Ben's hands and yanked them off of Ara, but that did nothing to wake him or cease his screaming.

"Han, take Ara to the medcenter," Luke gasped. "Make sure Ben didn't hurt the baby!"

Before Ara could say anything, her father-in-law had her by the arm and was leading her out of the room. "C'mon," he said in a rushed voice, though he too was staring at Ben and breathing hard.

Ara could only nod, knowing that keeping the baby safe had to be her first priority, though as Han led her out she couldn't stop staring at her husband, still trapped in his nightmare.

. . .

Ben's body flopped like a fish gasping for air, screams emitting from his mouth, tears dripping from his closed eyes. "STOP IT! NO! GET AWAY FROM HER!"

"Ben, WAKE UP!" Leia shouted, grabbing her son's shoulders. "Please, sweetheart, wake up!"

Her son's breath was coming out in quick, uncontrollable pants. "No . . . no . . . stop . . . no . . . I'll do anything . . ."

I'll do anything. Those three words sent a cold chill down Leia's spine. "Ben," she choked out, "PLEASE wake up! Whatever you're experiencing, _it's not real!_"

"NO!" Ben just kept screaming. "NO! NO! NO!"

"Hold him down!" Luke shouted. "I think I need to get inside his head."

"WHAT?" screamed Rey. "Dad, no! What if that's just what this is exactly what this dark side thing wants?"

"Rey . . ."

"Maybe this thing is using Ben to get to _you!_ If you go into his mind, you'll be vulnerable! I should go instead."

Luke's eyes bulged in fear. "NO! Rey, I have decades of experience with the Force. You haven't even been knighted yet."

"You said I was almost ready to be knighted!"

Leia felt her teeth grinding as her son kept screaming. "HEY, we don't have time to argue about this! Rey, it's safer for Luke to do this. He has the most training of any of us."

Rey's face was pale and her eyes were glistening, but she finally gave a little nod. "All right, Dad. Just, please, be careful."

Luke gave his daughter a quick hug before she and Leia both held Ben down by his arms. The old Jedi Master then eased himself onto the bed next to his screaming nephew whose body was spazzing uncontrollably. He closed his eyes, taking a long, calming inhale, and raised his hand over Ben's head.

. . .

Ara sat in the medical bed, sore from the examination and numb in the head, seeing her husband's writhing body and hearing his cries in her mind. She had asked the medical droid if she could go back to their room, only for the droid to advise against doing so before Ben was safely awake. Safely awake: a strange phrase, but she supposed it was appropriate. Even though the droid hadn't detected that their daughter had any injuries, who knew what Ben could do if she returned when he was still trapped in the nightmare? His body could even be restrained, but he could still hurt the baby with the Force.

Han sat on the edge of the bed next to her, his hands clasped together between his knees, his breath coming out in uneven pants. He hadn't spoken since they left the bedroom, which made Ara feel that she should say something to him, but what _could_ she say that wouldn't make him feel worse? An expression of worry would just feed his worry more and an expression of reassurance would just feel false.

"Mrs. Solo," the medical droid said, "is there anything I can get you?"

Ara shook her head. "No, no, I'm fine," she said, though "fine" was the furthest from how she felt right now.

The droid rotated its body to face Han. "Is there anything I can get you, Mr. Solo?"

"Not unless you can protect my kid from the dark side," grumbled Han, after which the droid hobbled away, its stomping metallic footsteps echoing around the room.

Ara swallowed, but it did nothing to help moisten her dry throat. "You should go back," she said in a raspy voice.

"And do what?" Han responded in a gloomy voice. "Stand around helplessly while the people with the _Force_ try to help him?"

"Han . . ."

Han's head snapped upwards, staring at her with teary eyes. "Why do you think Luke told _me_ to take you here? Cause he knew _I _couldn't help. You and me – we're trapped out of whatever's goin' on with Ben. No matter how hard we try, no matter how much we love him, we can't reach him."

Ara glanced at her stomach, again remember what Leia had told her and again wondering if something was invading her daughter without her knowledge. "You should still _be_ there," she muttered. "You're his _father._"

"I'd get in the way," Han muttered back. "Luke's gotta do whatever he's gotta do and if he needs help, Leia and Rey can help 'im, not me. Best thing I can do for Ben right now is stay outta the way."

Ara wanted to protest, but she couldn't find the words to do so. Maybe her father-in-law was right, and the best way they could _both_ help Ben was to stay here, away from whatever was happening in his mind.

But shouldn't there be _something_ they could do?

. . .

The baby wailed through the darkness as if in pain, but still Ben shielded it with his body. Though sharp, whip-like pains stabbed through him every other second, he refused to move. "Leave her alone!" he shouted over and over again to whatever was attacking them, but the invisible attacker remained silent.

Still the baby cried, her tears soaking Ben's hands. "It's all right, it's all right, I won't let it hurt you . . . I won't . . ."

The pain came harder, faster, feeling like it was tearing into his skin. _No, don't move, protect the baby, protect the baby, protect the baby!_ But how long _could_ he protect her? How long before his body gave out?

"Please . . ." His voice was reduced to a whimper. ". . . don't hurt her, I'll do anything . . ."

Finally the attacks stopped, though Ben still refused to move. _"Anything?"_ said a distant, familiar voice.

Ben squeezed the baby against him. "Yes," he whispered. "Anything."

Then came another distant voice – this voice desperate, panicky, but also familiar.

"Ben! No!"


	8. Chapter 8

AN: Thanks for reading and reviewing! I'm hoping to get this fic and my other fic "The Play's the Thing" finished before TROS comes out (so excited!).

"The Pull to the Dark"

By EsmeAmelia

Chapter 8

"Ben! No!"

This voice was distant, a mere pinpoint in the darkness, nearly drowned out by the infant's wail. _No, don't listen, protect the baby, protect the baby._

"Ben! Listen to me, you're dreaming! This isn't real!"

Not real. Some part of his mind considered the notion, but the baby's cry drowned it out. No, no, he couldn't fall for any lies. The baby was _here_ and in danger _now!_

"BEN!"

Ben shut his eyes, his body still crouched over the terrified child. "It's all right," he murmured again. "It's all right, it's all right, I'm here, I'll protect you . . ."

"Ben, you need to wake up!"

"No," Ben muttered, his eyes squeezed so tightly shut that they hurt. "She needs me."

"_You cannot protect her,"_ said the other voice, the menacing voice, a harsh chill in Ben's ear.

"NO!" Now Ben was pressing his head against the baby's, feeling her fragile head against his cheek. "You couldn't have me and you CAN'T HAVE HER!"

"_She is already mine. You both are."_

"NO!"

Suddenly there were hands squeezing Ben's sides – one of soft flesh and the other of hard metal, but both gripping equally firm. "Ben, you HAVE to wake up! This is what it WANTS!" The hands gripped him like vices, yanking him backwards, away from the child.

"Stop it!" Ben cried. "She needs me!"

The baby screeched, piercing into his ears. "It's all right, it's all right, don't be afraid." Even as the hands yanked him away, Ben reached towards the child, stretching as if he could make his arms grow through sheer willpower and wrap them around the baby. "No! I can't leave her! No! NO!"

With that, Ben's eyes popped open, light blazing into his vision and making his head ache. His arms still tried to stretch, but they wouldn't move. Nothing would move, as if the vice-like hands were still gripping him.

"Ben? Are you awake?"

He had to blink several times in order to make out his uncle hovering over him and his mother and cousin each holding down one of his shoulders.

"Ben?" Luke repeated. "Can you hear me?"

Ben's throat was dry, his skin and hair drenched with sweat, his breath panting. The two words he managed to speak came out soft and raspy and brought soreness to his throat.

"Where's Ara?"

. . .

How long had it been? An hour? Two hours? Han sure as hell couldn't tell down here in this miserable medcenter. The medical droid kept offering him water, as if a glass of water could magically fix everything. His butt was beginning to ache from sitting on the edge of the bed for so long, but if he got up he might start pacing, which could drive Ara crazy and she sure didn't need additional stress right now.

She lay in the bed next to him, looking absolutely miserable. The droid wouldn't let her get up except to use the refresher and she was hooked up to a heart monitor, the steady beeping of which had gotten annoying long ago. They needed to keep track of her stress level, the medical droid had said.

Han realized he had been tapping his fingers on his knee for quite some time now. Shit, _that_ was probably driving Ara crazy too. Where was Ben? Why wasn't there any news about him? _Shouldn't_ there be news by now? Dammit, they should have woken Ben up by now, _shouldn't_ they?

Just when Han felt ready to go storming into Ben's room, _finally_ his son arrived, awake but with mussed hair and bleary eyes and looking like hell. Han sprang to his feet and spread out his arms for an embrace, but of course Ben ran up to Ara and gathered her up in a hug first.

"Are you all right?" Ben gasped. "Is the baby all right?"

"Yes, yes, we're both fine," said Ara, gathering his sweat-drenched hair up in her fingers.

"Yeah, _they're_ fine," said Han, patting his son's back. "The question is, are _you_ okay? What happened?"

Ben's back stiffened under his father's hand. "What _happened?_ I almost _hurt the baby_, that's what happened!"

"But you didn't," said Ara. "The medical droid examined me and she's fine."

"Yes," said the droid. "Both Mrs. Solo and the child she is carrying are unharmed."

"But I _could_ have hurt her!"

"Mr. Solo, you are sounding stressed," said the droid. "Can I offer you some water?"

"Why does everyone keep offering me water?" Ben shouted. "Something _wants my daughter_ – maybe it even already _has_ her – but everyone thinks _water_ will solve everything?" As if his body was protesting the refusal, his voice cracked on the last word and a torrent of coughs came pushing out of his mouth.

"I _will_ get you some water, Mr. Solo," the droid said in a clipped voice that left no room for argument.

Han ran his hand up and down his son's tensed back. "Ben, Ben, you need to calm down."

Ben couldn't speak until the droid returned with a glass of water, which he downed in just a few seconds. "Th-the thing in my dreams said it was t-too late . . . that it already _had _both of us."

Han did his best to squelch down the jumping in his stomach. "It's just tryin' to scare you, son."

"Honey . . ." said Ara.

"No," said Ben, raising his hand. "You don't know what this is – _none of you_ know what this is." He blinked at his wife, his eyes puffy and red. "Even if I didn't hurt our daughter tonight, I could still hurt her tomorrow, or the next night, or the next night."

"What are you saying?"

"Yeah son," said Han. "What _are_ you sayin'?"

Though Han kept kneading his fingers into Ben's skin, it did nothing to ease the tension in his muscles or the gasping in his breath. "I can't trust myself," Ben whispered. "Ara, I can't control what I do when I'm asleep – I don't think we should sleep together for as long as you're pregnant." He swallowed. "In fact, I don't think I should sleep at _all."_


	9. Chapter 9

AN: Thanks for reading and reviewing!

"The Pull to the Dark"

By EsmeAmelia

Chapter 9

"What?" Han and Ara exclaimed at the same time.

"You heard me," Ben said just as Luke, Leia, and Rey entered the medical bay. "I'm putting Ara and the baby in danger."

Han exhaled through his teeth in frustration. "Leia, come over here and talk some sense into our son."

"Ben, what's going on?" asked Leia, her eyes wide and red-rimmed as she bent over and cupped her son's face in her hands.

Ben couldn't answer. His mother's worry was pulsing off of her, mixed with his father's worry, his wife's worry, his uncle's worry, his cousin's worry. Probably even the medical droid was worried; even though droids' emotions didn't carry through the Force, Ben still believed that droids _had_ emotions. All anyone had to do was look at R2 and 3PO in order to believe that.

"Ben?" Leia repeated, her brown, motherly eyes staring into his as she ran her thumb through his sweat-drenched hair. "Ben, please, talk to me."

Still he couldn't speak. His body suddenly felt heavy, collapsing into his mother's arms as tears poured out of his burning eyes, as if he were again that six-year-old boy who had been overtaken by the voice he only ever knew as "the guardian of the dark." Even to this day, he didn't know who or what the voice actually _was_; he only knew that it was stronger in the dark side than anything else he had ever encountered.

Now Han was hugging him from behind, sandwiching him between his parents like they often did when he was little. As the tears kept flowing, Ben found himself wishing that he could shrink back down into that little boy and lose himself in his parents' hugs, delude himself into believing that they could protect him.

"You should all go back to bed," he muttered in a raspy voice.

"I'm not going back to bed without you," said Ara.

Ben peeked out of the embrace to see his wife sitting up in the bed with her arms folded. "Ara . . ."

"I'm serious," Ara interrupted. "I'm not letting you get yourself into a crazy not-sleeping scheme. You don't sleep, I don't sleep either."

Ben pushed himself out of the embrace in order to sit next to his wife and take her hand. "Ara, you need to stay healthy in order to keep the _baby_ healthy, but I don't."

"Mr. Solo," the medical droid spoke up, staring at Ben with its flat, dark gray face, "humans require sleep in order to function both physically and mentally."

"Yes, thank you, I _did _pass elementary school!" Ben snapped.

"Ben, this is ridiculous," said Rey.

"If it protects the baby . . ."

"You _don't know_ that you not sleeping will protect the baby!" Leia shouted. "It could make you _more _vulnerable to whatever's out there."

Ben's gaze went to his legs, which had sweated stains in his gray pajamas. _Vulnerable._ He remembered the voice in his head teaching him that word many years ago, saying it was the worst thing you could be because it meant anyone or anything could hurt you.

"Your mother's right," Han was saying. "Look, we're all scared here, but that's all the more reason for _all _of us to keep our heads. You've gotta be alert to fight this thing, whatever it is."

"Ben, _you _need to stay healthy to protect the baby too," said Ara. "What do you think it will do to _my_ stress level if you kill yourself trying to stay awake?"

Ben gulped, though his throat remained dry. "All right, but we still can't sleep together. I can't risk injuring the baby."

Ara gave him a heartbroken look, but after a few seconds, she still nodded. "So long as you still sleep."

"Might I suggest that Mr. Solo sleep down here?" the medical droid offered. "That way, he can be monitored."

_Monitored._ Ben _monitored _patients many times and always did his best to make sure they were comfortable and all their needs were tended to, but the word still sounded so _clinical._

"Good idea," Luke was saying. "In fact, I could sleep here too and help get him out of any nightmares."

The hands. The hands gripping his body and yanking him away from his child.

With that, Ben shot to his feet, his body almost acting on its own accord. Though he could still feel the fear radiating off of his family, he paid them no mind as he rushed out of the room.

. . .

Out into the wilderness, the pre-dawn air chilling his body, the dewy grass soaking his bare feet, but still he ran, not stopping until he reached the beach, where he sank to his knees, closing his eyes and letting the waves wash over his pajama pants without caring how dirty they were getting. The birds were starting to awaken, their early morning chirps filling Ben's ears as if trying to calm him. In came the cold water over his legs, out it went again. In, out, in out.

Maybe he could stay here until the baby was born. Not sleeping, not eating, not speaking, just _being._ In came the waves, out went the waves. In, out, in out.

"Ben! There you are!"

His cousin's voice shot a chill through him that was more intense than the water or the air. "Go away," he muttered, not that he expected her to listen.

Sure enough, she didn't. In just a second or two, he felt her hand on his shoulders. "Ben, everyone's looking for you."

"Tell them I want to be alone."

Rey's hand didn't move. "This isn't the answer, Ben."

"Then what _is?_" Ben's eyes shot open as he ducked away from his cousin's touch. "You have _no _idea what any of this is like! The thing never tried to get _you!"_

Rey's eyes lowered. "You're right, it didn't. I don't know why and I never have, but it didn't." Her breath came out of her mouth in little clouds. "If only we knew what this thing was."

Ben struggled to his feet, flinching at the realization that his legs had gone numb and were stinging from inside. "Maybe we _can_ find out what it is."

Rey looked up at her cousin, a glimmer of hope in her eyes. "You're right, maybe we _can._"

"Come on," said Ben, taking Rey's hand. "Let's go to your father's library."


	10. Chapter 10

AN: Thanks as always for reading and reviewing!

"The Pull to the Dark"

By EsmeAmelia

Chapter 10

Ben and Rey spent the entire morning in the library, poring through the Jedi texts for clues about what was after their family. Ben's eyes were sore both from lack of sleep and from squinting at the often-tiny print in the texts, but still he read and read through the histories, starting off all the way back at Darth Bane. Of course, Sith history was foggy at best, given that there was a thousand-year gap when the galaxy thought they were extinct but in reality they were just biding their time.

Ben wasn't even sure if this thing _was_ a Sith, anyway.

"Hey son," called a familiar voice from the doorway, "it's time to take a break."

Ben looked up and there was his father, a basket dangling from his hand. "I don't have time for a break, Dad."

"Oh yes you do," said Han, sauntering into the room. "You didn't have breakfast, so you and me are goin' on a picnic."

"A _picnic?"_ Ben felt his brow furrowing. "You're seriously thinking of _picnics_ at a time like this?"

"Wearing yourself out isn't gonna solve anything," said Han. "Sides, some food and fresh air might give you some ideas about what to do next."

"I think that's a great idea," said Rey.

"Well I _don't,"_ said Ben.

Rey gently put a hand on her cousin's shoulder. "Ben, it's all right. I'll make myself a sandwich and bring it in here so I can keep researching while you're gone."

"Yeah, listen to your cousin," said Han. "Or if you don't wanna listen to her, I can bring in your wife, your mom, and your uncle to convince ya."

Ben groaned, realizing he was outvoted. "All right, I'll go. But we come right back as soon as we're finished."

"Deal."

. . .

Father and son spread their picnic blanket out on the top of a small hill that was a short walk away from Luke's Temple. Han had packed sandwiches, a container of blue milk, and cookies, all of which were making Ben's stomach growl despite his insistence that he had no appetite.

"Can't argue with biology, son," Han said with a grin when he heard his son's stomach growl. "You gotta eat in order to function."

Ben frowned, but he did pick up a sandwich and take a bite out of it. After that bite, his appetite seemed to return in full vigor, since he downed the rest of the sandwich in less than a minute.

"Told you," said Han, taking a bite of his own sandwich and grinning as if he'd achieved a victory.

"Okay, so you got me to eat," said Ben between sips of blue milk, "but it fixes nothing."

"Maybe not, but it keeps you from starvin'. I don't think the baby would like it if her mommy had to tell her that her daddy starved to death before she was born."

Ben gulped down his milk and poured himself another glass, reminding Han of how Ben always wanted his parents to pack blue milk in his lunchbox because he thought it would make him grow big and strong. Even back then, his son was conscious about health.

They ate in silence, listening to the birds chirp at each other and inhaling the fresh outdoor air. Ben lay on his back as he munched a cookie and gazed up into the trees.

"You could almost forget about your problems here," Ben mumbled.

Han lay down next to him. "Yeah."

Ben's eyes were drooping. "But it doesn't take your problems away. There's still something after my daughter . . . still something out there . . ." His words dissolved into gentle snores and his hand dropped the cookie.

Han smiled, running his hand through his son's hair and kissing his forehead. "Sleep well, buddy. This place doesn't take away your problems, but you can better _solve _your problems if you're rested."

After a few minutes, Han found himself yawning. Well, he might as well take a nap too – none of them had gotten much sleep last night, after all.

He closed his eyes and was almost instantly asleep.

. . .

Ben couldn't move.

His head was throbbing as if he'd been knocked out. Maybe he had been knocked out – how did he get here? For that matter, where was _here?_

Only then did he realize his eyes were closed. Opening them felt like ripping his skin apart, but once they were open he wanted to close them again.

The mask was staring at him.

"What do you want?" Ben asked, realizing that he was restrained, bound to a diagonal table.

"You know what I want," said the figure's mechanical voice.

"Well you _can't _have her!" Ben spat. "I don't care how much you torture me – _you'll never have her!"_

The masked figure paced back and forth, never taking its glare off of Ben. "You forget that I know _all _about you, including all your _weaknesses._"

"I don't believe for a _second_ that you're me."

With that, the figure reached up to its mask, causing Ben to hold his breath in dread. The figure gripped its mask in its hands, pulling, pulling, pulling . . .

. . . and there was Ben's own face.

"Do you believe me _now?_" the figure asked in Ben's voice.

Ben couldn't move, couldn't speak, couldn't _breathe,_ all he could do was stare as his double raised its hand inches away from Ben's face – then it felt as if the figure was sucking the life from Ben's mind. A headache became a pounding pain, which then became an explosion in his head. Maybe Ben was screaming, maybe he wasn't – he couldn't tell, he could only focus on the pain, thinking _make it stop, make it stop!_

"Yes, yes," said the Ben lookalike. "You're afraid, I can feel your fear, your desperation. You would do anything to protect your daughter, wouldn't you? You say you could never become me, but what if it was the only way to save her?"

"Hey you, GET AWAY FROM MY SON!"

The pain subsided and both versions of Ben turned to see Han standing in the doorway, his blaster drawn.


	11. Chapter 11

AN: Thanks as always for reading and reviewing!

"The Pull to the Dark"

By EsmeAmelia

Chapter 11

"What are you doing here?" Ben exclaimed.

The dark version of Ben seemed taken aback only for a second before he stuck out his free hand in Han's direction. In an instant, Han's body went limp as it came flying over towards Ben's double, who gripped the older man by the neck, pressing his thumb into Han's skin.

"Our father never did learn to mind his own business," the dark Ben said, squeezing Han's neck, causing him to sputter and choke and gasp.

"Leave him alone!" Ben shouted.

"Why?" asked the dark Ben, seeming to ignore how a bluish tint was overtaking Han's face.

Maybe whoever this was would listen to logic, Ben thought. "If we're both the same person, that means he's your father too."

"And?" The dark Ben glared at his lookalike as if he were looking at scum from Dagobah's swamps. "That means he contributed _sperm_, that's all." Yet as he said this, he dropped Han to the floor, where the older man landed in a heap.

"Son," Han choked out in a hoarse whisper, "it's okay, this isn't real."

"What?" Ben exclaimed. Not real. The same words the voice outside Ben's reality had used. The same words that had dragged him away from his child.

The words he couldn't trust.

Meanwhile, the dark Ben was actually _grinning_ – a wicked, sadistic grin. "This isn't real, is it?" Ben wasn't sure if his double was talking to him or Han. "Well _if_ this isn't real, then it shouldn't matter if I do _this!"_ He kicked Han in the ribs, making him cry out in pain. "Or _this!"_ He stepped on Han's hand, causing a sickening _crack_ sound.

Ben felt his whole body trembling, his wrists thrashing against the restraints, his eyes filling with hot, angry tears. "Stop it!"

The double went back to glaring at him. "Why don't you use your pathetic medical training to heal him? That's why you wasted your potential, isn't it? To _heal_ people?" He leaned forward until their noses were almost touching. "Yet you still can't protect our daughter."

The use of the word _our _suddenly made Ben's hands clench into fists and his ears ring. "She's _my_ daughter. She'll _never _be yours!"

"Ben," Han gasped from the floor, "he's baiting you. He _wants_ to scare you . . ." Another kick from the dark Ben turned his words into cries.

"Shut up," the dark Ben growled. "You said none of this is _real_, so you have no reason to talk." He strode over to the wall, where, Ben realized with horror, there was a _cradle._

"B-Ben . . ." Han's voice had been reduced to a raspy whisper. ". . . we're asleep. This is a dream."

"We?" Ben exclaimed as his double reached into the cradle.

Han nodded, though he flinched while doing so. "I think this is _my_ dream too."

Meanwhile, the dark Ben lifted a bundle out of the cradle and held it close to his chest. Wrapped up in the gray blanket was the same baby Ben had been desperate to protect. The same tufts of dark hair, the same little dimples on her cheeks, and _he_ was holding her.

And she wasn't crying.

In fact, her little eyes were gazing up at the dark Ben with what looked like _reverence. _

"No . . ." Ben whimpered. ". . . no . . ."

The dark Ben rubbed the baby's cheek and she giggled.

"NO!"

. . .

A clap of thunder jolted Ben awake. He opened his eyes to chilly air and large water drops falling directly into his eyes. Reflexively, he scrambled to a sitting position and wrapped his arms around himself, and only then did he gain enough presence of mind to realize that it was raining. Next to him, Han was also pushing himself to a sitting position, soaking wet and looking as confused as Ben felt.

"Well, looks like the picnic's over," said Han.

The two quickly stuffed the picnic supplies back into the basket and started heading back to the Temple, holding the picnic blanket over their heads in an attempt to shelter themselves from the rain.

"Sorry, son," said Han. "I should've been watching for rain, but I fell asleep too."

Ben's heart was thumping as he listened to their feet squishing through the wet grass. He felt like his whole body was pressed in a vice that was preventing him from looking at his father. What just happened? How could he even _ask_ what just happened? Water was stinging his eyes – whether rain or tears or both, he couldn't tell.

"Dad?" he asked in a hesitant voice.

"Hmm?"

"Do you have lucid dreams?"

"What?"

"Lucid dreams," Ben repeated. "Dreams where you know you're dreaming."

The father let out a short sigh. "Shit, I didn't wanna believe . . ."

"That we shared a dream?"

"Yeah." Han sighed again. "Where your psycho lookalike broke my ribs and I think a few other things. Damn, how's that even _possible?_ It ain't like I got the Force."

"But you _knew_ we were dreaming," Ben pressed.

Han lowered the picnic blanket a little, maybe because his arms were getting tired or maybe because he wanted extra protection from the rain as it hammered down on their makeshift sanctuary. "Yeah, guess I did."

"Do you have other dreams like that?" Finally Ben gained the courage to look over at Han. "Where you know you're dreaming?"

Han twisted his mouth. "Maybe, I guess. I don't really remember a lotta my dreams, but I think I have _some_ where I know I'm dreamin'."

Ben went back to looking ahead, where the Temple could be seen through the curtain of rain. "How do you think that happened?"

"You think _I_ know? Ask Luke or something – I just know that it was creepy as fuck and I dunno when I'll be able to sleep again."

"Welcome to my world."

. . .

"THERE you are!" shouted Leia, rushing up to her husband and son, closely followed by 3PO and R2.

Han grinned sheepishly as he and Ben stepped inside and threw off the picnic blanket. "Yeah sweetheart, here we are."

"Oh dear," said 3PO. "Might I suggest that Master Han and Master Ben get in the bathtub as soon as possible? Otherwise you might catch colds and there could be an epidemic of sickness spreading throughout the Temple!"

R2 gave a haughty beep.

"What do you mean, overreaction? Really R2, just because droids can't get sick doesn't mean that we shouldn't be concerned about our organic companions. Not that I have ever had a cold myself, but I hear they are _quite _unpleasant."

Leia took the picnic basket from her husband. "I don't usually say this, but I agree with 3PO. You should get in the bath."

Han looked like he wasn't sure whether he should grin or roll his eyes. "Well, I don't like to agree with 3PO either, but a bath _does _sound nice."

"Not for me," said Ben. "Is Rey still in the library?"

"Yes," said Leia.

"Good," said Ben. "Because I think I might have an idea."


	12. Chapter 12

AN: Thanks as always for reading and reviewing!

"The Pull to the Dark"

By EsmeAmelia

Chapter 12

"Are you sure about this?" Rey asked, still hunched over one of the books, though her head was craned upward to look at her cousin.

"No, I'm not sure about anything," said Ben, pacing back and forth in front of the table. "I just know that Dad and I shared a dream, which shouldn't be possible – or is it? Did you find anything during our picnic?"

Rey shook her head. "I'm starting to think our answers might not be here."

Ben let out a groan through his teeth. "Look, in my – our – dream, Dad _knew_ what was happening. He _knew _we were dreaming. What if that could be used to our advantage against this _thing?_"

"Ben, you don't even know if this will happen again. Maybe it was just an accident of some kind. Or maybe the _thing_ was what connected your dreams in the first place!"

The thought had occurred to Ben too, but still he couldn't stop pacing. "Maybe, but we don't know that for sure."

"We don't know _anything_ for sure."

Ben wanted to bang on the table. "So do we just passively sit around and let this thing get my daughter because we don't know anything for sure?"

"Ben, Uncle Han isn't even Force-sensitive!"

Ben's pacing increased its intensity. "Not Force-sensitive like we are, but Uncle Luke is always saying that _everyone_ has a bit of the Force inside them. What if Dad has _just enough_ of the Force to share dreams with Force-sensitives?"

Rey sighed. "Even if that's true, the technology to detect a person's midichlorian count died with the old Jedi Order."

"We wouldn't need a midichlorian count," said Ben. "We'd just need this to happen again."

"And how exactly _do_ you get it to happen again?"

Finally Ben stopped pacing and stared at his cousin with desperate eyes. "I don't know."

. . .

Ben and Rey remained in the library for the rest of the afternoon, now specifically looking for information about dreams. While they found plenty of stories about Jedi who received premonitions in dreams and even a few cases where Jedi had shared dreams with each other, they found nothing about Force-sensitives and non-Force-sensitives sharing dreams. Ben wondered if this was the first time something like that had ever happened, but then again, just because something had never been recorded didn't mean it had never happened.

By the time Luke called them for dinner, they were no closer to finding an answer, but Ben at least thought he might have an idea about the shared dream.

"What if Dad and I both slept in the medical ward?" he asked as soon as the whole family was settled around the dinner table. "Maybe it would trigger another shared dream."

Everyone gave him looks of speculation, including his father. "I dunno, son," he said. "I don't think we ever had shared dreams all those nights when you slept in our bed after your nightmares."

"Besides," said Luke, "even if you _do_ have another shared dream, then what?"

"I don't know," said Ben, "but he _knew_ we were dreaming and I think that means something. Maybe, I don't know, he could guide me out of the dreams or something."

"Wait," said Han, "I don't have those lucid dream things _all_ the time. Even if we shared a dream again, there's no guarantee that I'd know what was happenin'."

[Well _I _think it's worth a try,] said Chewie.

"So do I," said Ara. "It's the only lead we've got right now, so we might as well try it."

Luke was staring down at his food. "It might be worth a try, but wouldn't it be a better idea to try sharing a dream with someone who actually has the Force? I mean, no offense, Han, but maybe I should be doing this."

Leia banged her fork against the edge of her plate. "But _Han _was the one who shared a dream with him, Luke."

"Dad, aren't you always saying that _everyone _has a bit of the Force, whether they're Force-sensitive or not?" Rey asked.

"Well, yes, but . . ." Luke looked up to face his brother-in-law. ". . . Han, you said this dark version of Ben tortured you in the dream. What if it does something worse next time?"

Han shrugged. "It's just a dream. It can't hurt me in real life."

"Are you _sure? _What if the thing gets inside _your_ mind and we can't get it out?"

Han's eyes bulged for a moment – but only for a moment before they once more filled with resolve. "Then I'll risk it. I'll risk anything for my son and my granddaughter." He reached over and took Ben's hand. "Let's do this, son."

From the corner of the dining room, 3PO looked down at R2. "Oh dear," he said, "humans and their dreams. R2, sometimes it sounds so troubling to be a human."

. . .

Han had never been fond of hospital beds – or hospitals in general, for that matter. Hospital beds always felt too stiff and smelled too _clean_, and the beds in the Temple's medical ward weren't an exception, but he'd endure sleeping in a hospital bed for his son's sake. After all, when Ben was in the hospital after Luke drove the dark presence out of his mind all those years ago, Han had voluntarily spent all the nights with his son, uncomfortable hospital bed be damned. So what if he already felt like the mattress was trying to make all his bones ache? He'd go through it for his little boy.

Ben and Ara were entering the medical ward, both in their robes, their arms around each other. "Are you sure you want to do this?"

"Yes," said Ben, putting his hand on Ara's abdomen. "Maybe this is how to save her."

"All right," said Ara, kissing her husband's lips before looking at Han. "Take care of him for me, will you Han?"

"You bet," said Han. "Now you take care of my granddaughter, will you?"

"I will," said Ara. She kissed her husband again. "Good night, sweetheart. I'd say sweet dreams, but, well, you're not hoping for that tonight."

Ben kissed her back. "Good night."

Once Ara left, Ben took a deep breath as he approached the bed in which his father lay. "Are you ready?"

"No," said Han, "but let's do this anyway."

Ben reached into his robe pocket and pulled out the lucky dice Han had given him when he graduated from medical school. "I thought we could use some luck," he said as he placed the dice on the nightstand next to the bed.

"Good thinkin', kid."

Ben pulled off his robe, tossed it onto the foot of the bed, then climbed into bed next to his father. "I'm not going to lie – this feels weird."

"Yeah," said Han. "I mean, I ain't even sure how to bring on one of these dreams – earlier today it just _happened._"

Ben took another deep breath, his brown eyes wide, reminding Han of how he wiped tears from those eyes so many times.

"General and Doctor Solo," said the medical droid, "do you wish for me to turn the lights off?"

"Yeah," said Han, after which the droid did so, shrouding the father and son in darkness.

Han dug his head into the way-too-firm pillow, doing his best to get comfortable. "Well, night son. Hopefully I'll see you in a few minutes."

"Good night."

Han closed his eyes, concentrating on sinking down into sleep, but he couldn't banish a twinge of anxiety from entering his head.

Even if this worked, what was he about to experience?


	13. Chapter 13

AN: Thanks as always for reading and reviewing!

"The Pull to the Dark"

By EsmeAmelia

Chapter 13

It was cold.

Han shivered as he made his way up and down the dark corridors, wrapping his arms around his body, though it did nothing to alleviate the cold. Still, something was pushing him onward – some vague sense of purpose. He was here to do_ something_, but exactly what it was kept escaping his mind.

Damn, it was cold.

His breath came out in clouds as he kept wandering up and down the corridors. He was looking for something – some_one_, yes, he was looking for _someone_, someone close to him.

But _damn, it was cold!_

Up another corridor, down still another one . . .

It was _so fucking cold! _

Then came a baby's cry.

Han's ears perked up. Yes, yes, a baby . . . he remembered something about a baby . . . the reason why he was here had something to do with a baby . . .

The baby's wail grew louder and louder, echoing off the walls, stimulating Han to break into a run. "I'm comin'," he whispered, "I'm comin' . . ."

Up another corridor and he ran into Ben, stumbling down the corridor and cradling the crying child in his arms, his eyes wide with fear, his face pale. "Dad," he gasped out in a raspy voice, "help me, he's coming!"

"It's all right, son." Han instantly reached out his arms as a steam of memories came flowing into his head. Ben, the baby, a dark presence . . .

They were dreaming!

"Ben, quick, give her to me!" Han shouted.

Ben was clutching the baby to his chest. "No, I can't, I can't let her go, _he'll_ get her!"

Han focused on making his voice as calm as possible. This was a dream, so nothing could hurt them. Right? "Ben, we're dreaming. This isn't real."

Ben's eyes were bulged, staring at Han as if he were a ghost. "No . . . no . . ."

"Yes, Ben." Han forced himself to ignore the jumping in his stomach. "Remember our plan?"

"Plan?"

"Yes." Han stared into his son's eyes. "We were tryin' to get our dreams to connect again, remember? Looks like it happened."

Ben only blinked at him, still cradling the baby against his chest. "What are you talking about?"

"You wanted me to follow you into your dreams," said Han. "Cause I sometimes have lucid dreams. Well I think I'm havin' one right now." He reached over to brush his son's cold cheek. "_We're_ havin' one. This is a dream – nothing can hurt us."

There were tears in Ben's eyes. "How do you know?"

That question struck Han silent. How _did _he know? What was different here from when he was awake? He still breathed, he still felt the cold, he still saw his son and heard the baby's cries, so what was different?

"I . . . I dunno how I got here," he finally said. "Like, I kinda remember us goin' to bed, but I ain't sure how I got _here."_

"That means nothing," said Ben. "You could have been knocked out and brought here."

"Well . . . yeah . . . but I don't think that's what happened." His fingers stroked Ben's cheek. "Ben, try to remember. We shared a dream like this once before and we were tryin' to get it to happen again by sleepin' together in the Temple's medical ward? Remember? It was your idea."

Ben was silent.

"C'mon, I know you can remember if you try."

"Dad? What are you doing?"

Ben's voice . . . but it was coming from _behind_ Han. He whirled around and there was _another _Ben – this one pale and bruised and staring at his father with horrified eyes and a gaping mouth.

"Ben?" Han whispered before looking back at the first Ben, who was now clutching the baby tighter to his chest, a guilty look in his eyes. "Ben?"

"Dad," the Ben voice behind Han said, _"what have you done?"_

Han's head whipped around to look at the other Ben, who was still staring in horror, his mouth sucking in tiny gasps. "He has her," he whispered. "He has her . . . and you _told him!"_

Han's stomach flipped and his throat dried. He barely had time to look back at the first Ben before he lowered his eyebrows and stuck out his hand. The next thing Han knew, his body slammed against the wall, shooting pain through his whole body. _Shit,_ was all he could think as the Force pinned him against the wall. _Shit, shit, SHIT!_ How the hell was he so _stupid?_

How could he have told what little of a plan they had to _the wrong Ben?_

The real Ben charged at the dark Ben, but the dark Ben only had to flick his fingers to make the real Ben collapse into a heap on the floor. "It's a dream!" Han gasped, still pinned against the wall. "Ben, it's a dream, none of this is real, you can get up!"

"You still don't get it, do you?" asked the dark Ben, still cradling the child in his arm. "You think that in a dream, nothing can hurt you."

"That's cause it _can't!_" Han spat. "You've got _no_ real power over me _or_ Ben!" He looked down at where his son was still crumpled on the floor. "Get up, son, come on, you can do it!"

Ben just lay motionless, giving no sign that he had heard his father.

"Come ON, Ben!"

Still nothing. Ben lay like a corpse. _It's just a dream,_ Han repeated to himself. _Just a dream, none of this is real._

But as he stared down at Ben, he found himself starting to doubt that statement.

The dark Ben, meanwhile, also stared down at the real Ben. "So weak," he muttered, still cradling the baby in his arms. "Afraid of his own power. Afraid of what he could have been. He's so weak that he won't realize his potential, not even to save his _daughter._"

Han felt his teeth grinding as rage built up inside him. "You're wrong," he growled. "My son's a hell of a lot stronger than _you'll _ever be! He's stronger than your _master,_ whoever the fuck that is. We drove your master out of his head when he was a _kid_ and we'll do it again! If I have to travel to the deepest, darkest corners of space, I'll find your master and _kill him!"_

The dark Ben's face hardened into a hateful glare. "Your words are just that – _words._" He strode over to Han, stepping over the real Ben in the process.

"And _you're_ only a dream," Han spat back.

The dark Ben stepped up to Han, glaring into his eyes, the baby still in his arms.

Then without any warning, he grabbed Han's hand and twisted it around to the point of cracking.

. . .

Han woke up in mid-cry, Ben hovering over one side of him, the medical droid hovering over the other, and his wrist bursting in pain.

"Dad?" Ben was shouting. "Dad, Dad, wake up!"

"I'm awake," Han mumbled, squinting into the light. "Wha's goin' on?"

"Keep your arm still, Mr. Solo," said the medical droid.

"Whaddaya mean?" Han swallowed, trying not to think about the pain in his wrist that was throbbing as if trying to cut his hand off, trying not to remember the dream.

"Your wrist may be broken," the droid said in his usual unemotional voice. "You must allow me to examine it."

Han swallowed again, ever-so-slowly turning his head in the direction of the pain.

The wrist the dark Ben had twisted in the dream.

Blue and swollen.


	14. Chapter 14

AN: Thanks for reading and reviewing!

"The Pull to the Dark"

By EsmeAmelia

Chapter 14

"This is all my fault," Ben muttered as he paced back and forth in front of the hospital bed. "This was a stupid idea – I never should've suggested it."

"C'mon son, don't go blamin' yourself," Han said.

Ben abruptly stopped pacing and pointed at his father's broken wrist, now wrapped up in a cast. "And how was _that_ not my fault?"

"Look . . . I could've just rolled over on it wrong."

"You don't believe that."

"Okay, I don't, but it still ain't your fault. We had no way of knowin' this could happen."

"And that makes it _okay?"_ The dark circles under Ben's eyes stood out against his glistening pale skin. "The _thing's_ onto us and if it can do _that, _who knows what else it can do?"

Before Han could answer, Leia and Ara entered the medical ward, Leia with her arm around her daughter-in-law's shoulders. "It's all right," Leia was murmuring, "it's all right, it's going to be fine."

Ara, meanwhile, was staring ahead, her face pale, her body trembling, silent as Leia helped ease her into one of the beds.

"Ara?" Ben shouted, rushing up to his wife. "Ara, what's wrong? What happened?"

Ara remained silent, staring ahead at nothing, scarcely blinking.

"Sweetheart, talk to me!" shouted Ben, grabbing her limp hand. _"Talk to me!"_

Still she stared, giving no indication that she'd heard him.

"_Ara!"_ Ben repeated, pressing his finger into her cheek, but still she gave no response. "What happened to her?"

"I don't know," said Leia. "I heard her screaming, but then when I got to her room, she was like this."

"She appears to be in shock," said the medical droid. "Allow me to examine her."

"Let _me_ examine her first," said Ben. He closed his eyes, raising his hand over his wife, ignoring his mother's exclamation of "Han, what the hell happened to you?" Calling on the Force, he focused on Ara's energy flowing through her body, searching for what was wrong as he did so often with his patients.

Her heart rate was elevated, but still within normal range. Blood pressure: normal. Breathing: rapid but normal. Brain waves: normal.

Then he brought his focus to the little soul in her womb . . .

A jolt of pain and a vision in his mind's eye of a dark presence enveloping the child.

"NO!" he screamed. "NO, NO, LEAVE HER ALONE!"

Some part of him was aware that he was still in the medical ward and felt the stares from the others, but the rest of him took no notice. The real world in front of his eyes wavered and blurred, replaced by the world in his mind. The baby, _his_ baby, squeezed by those twisted, evil hands.

"Ben? What's happening? Talk to me!"

He heard his mother, felt her arms wrap around his shaking body, but he couldn't acknowledge them. The baby was crying in his mind as clearly as if she were crying into his ear. "It's all right, sweetheart," he whispered. "Daddy's not going to let him hurt you."

"Ben?" There was Han's voice, but again he couldn't acknowledge it. "Ben, what's goin' on?"

The baby kept screaming, screaming, screaming . . .

"Her pupils are dilating normally." The medical droid shining a light in Ara's eyes seemed to come from a distant reality. "Her brain wave patterns also indicate that she is fully conscious. I cannot figure out why she is unresponsive."

Unresponsive. Behind his blinks he saw his wife desperately reaching for their child, but unable to save her. Did the dark presence have them _both_ now? "Let them go!" Ben shouted. "Let them go NOW!"

Now Han was by his side as well, embracing his son with his good arm. "Son, what is it? Tell us!"

Again Ben couldn't respond to the embrace. He too reached out, his hand grasping at empty air, yet the child was still there, wrapped in gnarly fingers, just out of her father's reach. "No . . . it's all right . . . I've got you . . . hang on, sweetheart . . ."

"_You don't have the strength to save her."_

The voice. _That _voice. Ben's insides turned to ice. "No . . . no . . . not you . . . we got rid of you . . ."

"_My boy, did you really think the choice your family made long ago wouldn't have consequences?"_

"STOP IT!" His body collapsed out of his parents' arms, convulsing once it hit the floor. "You're gone, you're gone, YOU'RE GONE!"

"_I offered you strength and you chose to be weak. If you had accepted my teaching, you could protect your family, but now your daughter will be mine instead."_

Ben's teeth were chattering and his body was shaking as if he were lost in a blizzard. "It's _me_ you want," he gasped, "not her."

Maybe his parents were calling his name. Maybe the medical droid was asking what was wrong with him. Maybe Ara was still staring lifelessly at nothing. Maybe there was a frenzy in the real world, but Ben couldn't grasp it. All he could grasp was the child and . . . the _voice._ The voice he once knew as "the Guardian of the Dark," the voice that he once thought was a secret friend inside his mind, the voice he thought – _hoped_ – he would never hear again.

"_Why would I want you now, when you've wasted all your potential on broken bones and surgeries? You're worthless now, but your daughter . . . yes, she is full of that same raw power that you once had. She will make a powerful apprentice."_

"NO!"

. . .

The next thing Ben knew, his mother was slapping his face in quick, successive motions. "Ben! Wake up, wake up! Come on, WAKE UP!"

Ben slowly opened his eyes, only to squint from the ceiling lights. It took him a few moments to realize that he was still on the medical ward floor, Leia kneeling by his side and Han and the medical droid towering over him.

"What happened?" he mumbled, vaguely hoping that the whole thing was just a dream, though he knew that was a feeble hope.

"You were screamin' bloody murder at something, then you passed out," Han said, a worried look on his face, his breath uneven.

"Is Ara all right?" Ben asked.

"Mrs. Solo's condition is unchanged," said the medical droid. "Mr. Solo, do not move until I have examined you."

Ben wanted to protest, but he resisted the urge to do so. After all, _he _would say the same thing if he'd observed this. "Mom?" he asked as the droid kneeled by his side.

"Yes?"

"Go wake Uncle Luke. NOW!"


	15. Chapter 15

AN: Thanks for reading and reviewing!

"The Pull to the Dark"

By EsmeAmelia

Chapter 15

Neither Luke nor Rey nor Chewie spoke while Ben told them what had happened, but their eyes bulged in fear. By the time Ben finished, the humans had gone pale while the Wookiee's fur was bristling.

[We need to kill it,] Chewie growled. [Whatever it is, we need to kill it before it can hurt our family even more.]

"And how do we do that?" asked Rey. "We don't even know what it _is!"_

Luke, meanwhile, glanced over at Ara – still silent, still staring. "Maybe we've been going about this the wrong way," he muttered.

"What do you mean?" asked Leia, who was sitting on the edge of Ara's bed and holding her hand, as if that would snap her out of whatever state she was in.

"I mean we've been working only one or two at a time," said Luke. "Maybe . . . maybe to defeat this thing, we need to _all_ fight together."

"And . . . how do you suggest doin' that?" asked Han.

Ben gasped before Luke could answer. "No," he said. "No, you're not _all_ going in my mind!"

"Maybe that's the answer," said Leia.

"_No!"_ Ben waved his hand in the direction of Han's broken wrist. "Look at what it did to Dad! Something _worse_ could happen next time! I'm _not _risking all your lives."

"And what about _Ara?"_ Leia shouted, gesturing at her still-silent daughter-in-law. "What about the _baby?_"

"I'll fight the thing by myself," Ben muttered.

"That's crazy!" Luke, Leia, Han, Rey, and Chewie all exclaimed in unison.

"Maybe it is, but I don't have a choice."

Han winced, maybe in pain or maybe in frustration or maybe both. He gestured at his son with his good hand. "C'mere, kid." He patted the edge of his bed. "Sit with me for a minute before you do something stupid."

Ben gave a loud groan, but he obeyed, sitting on the edge of Han's bed, careful not to push his father off.

"Now look, son," said Han, "me, your mom, your uncle, Chewie, Lando, all the rest of us, we all sacrificed a damn lot so your generation wouldn't have to live under an Empire. You think any of us could've done it alone?"

"This is different."

"No, it ain't." Han stared into his son's eyes. "Listen to me, buddy. We risked our own lives and we risked _each other's_ lives." He held up his broken wrist. "You worried about this? Well the thing can break my other one if it wants. It can break every bone in my body if that's what it takes to save the baby."

"Mine too," said Leia. "Ben, the thing we're fighting is bigger than any of us. You need us – all of us." Again she gestured at Ara. "_She _needs all of us too. They both do."

Ben felt his eyes moistening up. "You don't know what that thing can do. You don't know what it's like to have that thing in your head – _none of you_ do!"

"You're right, we don't," said Han. "All the more reason to get rid of it together."

A chill spread through Ben's body, numbing his limbs. Abruptly his focus went down to his hands, but he still felt his father's hard gaze on him, silently telling him that they all needed to risk their lives and maybe even their _sanity_ in order to have a chance against the thing. Yet despite the confidence in Han's words, fear was flowing off of him, Leia, Luke, Rey, Chewie, all of them. _No, no,_ the word pounded within him. _No._ He couldn't let them do this . . . he _wouldn't . . ._

"How would we do it?" Rey asked, as if there was nothing in the world to joining all their minds.

"We're _not_ doing it!" Ben insisted.

"But what if it's the only way?" Luke asked softly.

"Yeah," said Han, putting his good hand on his son's cheek, letting Ben feel his calloused fingers. "What if it's the only way? We don't know what this thing is, but we _do_ know it's got its weaknesses – look at how Luke drove it out of your head when you were a kid."

"But now it's _back . . ._"

"And so are _we._"

Now tears were streaming down Ben's cheeks, drenching Han's fingers. "I can't . . . I can't let you . . ." A sniffle interrupted his words as Han's thumb brushed his eye. Part of him wanted to just collapse into his father's arms as if he were still that little boy, let those strong, loving arms seal him away from the outside world, away from the dark presence . . .

Away from his unresponsive wife?

Away from his child who might be in danger right this minute?

_What if it's the only way . . ._

He forced himself to swallow a sob and took a long, deep breath, the kind of full, relaxing breath Uncle Luke had taught him, in through his nose and out through his mouth, and looked into his father's eyes. "Maybe Uncle Luke's right. Maybe it _is_ the only way, but . . ."

"You're scared," said Han, patting his son's cheek. "It's all right, we're all scared."

Now Ben looked back at Ara, whose eyes met his without any sense that she saw him. Maybe he had caused this by impregnating her with his child. He slid off Han's bed and made his way to Ara's, always looking into her vacant eyes for some sign of awareness but finding none.

Those beautiful sky-blue eyes . . .

Once he reached his wife, Ben ran his hand over her forehead. "I'm sorry, Ara," he whispered. "Maybe I could have done something to stop this, I don't know. And . . . and if what we're about to do makes things worse, I'm sorry about that too. I don't know if you can hear me right now, but just know that I love you and the baby so _very _much." After kissing his wife's head, he took another of those relaxing breaths and looked at his uncle. "All right, how do we do this?"

. . .

"Focus on her, Ben," Luke said as Ben squeezed Ara's hand. "Reach out to her. Feel her."

Ben did so, closing his eyes, and letting his energy flow to her, concentrating on her soul's signature in the Force, pressing his wife into his mind: her infectious smile, her content sighs as he rubbed her feet, her soft kisses, even her scent of sweat and grease when she came home from work.

"Are you ready?" asked Luke.

"Yes."

"All right. Remember, keep your connection with her when I put her to sleep."

Ben focused on maintaining the connection, and when Luke told him to open his eyes, there was his wife, her head nestled on the pillow, sound asleep, looking peaceful, though Ben knew her appearance was deceiving.

Where was her consciousness now?

"It's all right, Ara," he whispered. "We're coming." He leaned over and kissed her cheek before joining Luke at the next bed in which Rey was lying, fear in her eyes despite the brave front she was trying to put on.

"Rey," Luke said, unable to keep the fatherly worry out of his voice, "you don't have to do this if you don't want to."

"I want to," Rey insisted. "I want to help."

"It will be dangerous."

Rey gave a tiny grin. "Come on, Dad, you and I both know that you wouldn't accept being left out of this either."

"All right, all right, you got me," said Luke, kissing his daughter's forehead. "Just try not to do anything stupid."

"Agreed." Rey pulled the covers over her shoulders and closed her eyes. "I'm ready."

Ben reached for his cousin with the Force, concentrating on memories of holding her infant self when he was ten years old, babysitting her when she was little, watching her grow up into the young woman she was now. Meanwhile Luke gulped, casting a nervous glance at Ben before waving his hand over his daughter, putting her to sleep.

Now the two made their way across the room to the bed where Leia lay. Once Ben reached her side, she immediately sat up and placed her hand on her son's cheek, gazing at him with sorrowful eyes. "Ben, I'm so, so sorry."

Ben felt his eyes widen. "For what?"

Leia's eyes lowered as if she were ashamed to look at her son. "For not stopping this earlier. For not telling anyone what I sensed when I was pregnant, letting my work take up my attention, being so afraid of our heritage . . ."

"Mom," Ben interrupted, "stop. You don't know if you could have stopped this earlier or not. None of us know what might have happened if we'd done things differently. You can't beat yourself up about it."

A small smile formed on Leia's face. "My son. My wise son. You have no idea how proud I am of you."

Ben wrapped his arms around his mother, feeling her soul link with his before he even got a chance to link his with hers. Her memories flowed into his head – he saw her point of view looking down at him as a baby, watching him learn to walk while holding Han's hands, hugging him goodbye when he left for his training. His eyes welled up as he felt her fierce, fierce love flow through him.

"Are you ready?" Luke was asking.

Leia nodded as she reluctantly let go of her son and lay back down. "Ben, whatever happens, I promise I'll do whatever I can to save the baby." With that, Luke waved his hand over her and she was asleep.

Now they headed for the next bed. Han was sitting up in bed and talking to Chewie, who was ruffling his friend's hair. [It's all right, Han,] the Wookiee was saying. [I'll be watching over you guys, and so will the droids.]

"Yeah, well no offense, but I trust you a lot more than those droids," said Han.

Chewie laughed before ruffling Han's hair again. [Remember to wake up, all right?]

"We'll try, buddy."

Chewie roared an affectionate good night before turning his attention to Ben. [Watch over him, will you?]

"I'll try," said Ben, before Chewie ruffled his hair too and stepped aside so Ben and Luke could approach Han's bed.

"So . . ." said Han, taking a deep breath, "this is it."

"Yes," said Ben, feeling a pull in his stomach as he looked at his father's broken wrist. "Dad, you don't have to . . ."

"Don't give me that bantha shit, son," Han interrupted. "Our dreams connected twice for a reason. I dunno what that reason is, but I ain't stayin' behind."

Again Ben's eyes welled up as he squeezed his father in a hug. "We _will_ wake up," he said, assuring himself as much as he was assuring Han.

"I know we will," said Han, embracing his son with his one good arm. "We've got the best doctor in the galaxy lookin' out for us, after all."

They lingered in the hug for several moments despite the urgency of the situation. It wasn't until Luke cleared his throat when they finally broke the embrace.

"Han, are you ready?" Luke asked.

"No," said Han, lying down and nestling his head in the pillow, "but go ahead anyway."

Ben swallowed again as he raised his hand over his father and reached to Han's soul with the Force, concentrating on their shared memories. Han's big Dad hugs after Ben had nightmares. Their play lightsaber fights when Ben was little. Han applauding as he observed Ben's training – all those years Han had spent here so he could be there for his son. Han teaching Ben how to fly the Falcon. Han giving Ben his lucky dice at his medical school graduation – Ben quickly squeezed his pajama pocket to make sure they were in there.

Finally Luke waved his hand over Han's head, putting him to sleep. Ben had thought that connecting with his whole family at once would be overwhelming, but no, it was as if each new connection was linking with all the others, creating one big connection.

Without a word, Luke and Ben made their way to the remaining empty beds and they each climbed into one. Ben's heart was drumming against his ribs, but he made no attempt to calm it as Luke looked into his eyes.

"Remember," he said, "at the same time."

Ben nodded and they both reached out for each other. Their souls seemed to link instantly, completing the large chain in Ben's spirit.

"Three . . . two . . . one . . . now!" Luke said.

Ben only had a second to send the Force out to his uncle to put him to sleep before he felt grogginess overcome him.

Then Ben was asleep as well.


	16. Chapter 16

AN: Thanks as always for reading and reviewing! FYI, Rianna is my OC that I've used for Luke's wife in, well, several fanfic universes.

"The Pull to the Dark"

By EsmeAmelia

Chapter 16

Luke ran.

He ran like he was twenty again, like he was running from Imperial forces, but there was a distinct sense that he was running _to_ something instead of _from_ something and that if he didn't reach his destination soon, it would be too late.

Too late for what?

The sterile, white corridor seemed endless and the lights in the ceiling seemed to want to blind him, but still he ran, ran, ran . . .

The door!

Whatever he was looking for was behind the door – he was sure of it. He hit the button like he was punching someone in a fight and the door slid open, revealing a hospital bed in which an unresponsive patient lay, hooked up to machines to keep her alive.

"No . . ." Luke whispered, inching up to the bed, his mouth drying at the sight of the comatose patient: her light brown skin covered with festering sores, her thick black hair soaked in sweat, a breathing mask encasing her mouth and nose, tubes stuck up her arms.

"No . . ." Luke whispered again, ". . . Rianna . . . no . . ." He grabbed her cold hand, squeezing it as if the action would revive her. "Hold on, sweetheart, hold on, _please!"_

"_You couldn't save her . . ."_

The voice pounded into his ears, seeming to come from all around him. _"You couldn't save her. You let her die."_

An abrupt chill shot through Luke's body as he stared at his wife's still face. "N-no . . . I didn't . . ."

Then came the shadows out of nowhere, removing the face mask and extracting the tubes from her arms.

"No, NO!" Luke cried. "Stop that, she's still alive, SHE'S STILL ALIVE!"

"_You let them unplug her . . ."_

"She wasn't THERE anymore!" Luke shouted. "She wasn't . . . I felt it . . ."

"_Then why were you just crying that she was still alive? What if you felt wrong?"_

The long, loud, extended beep, screeching into Luke's ears that she was gone. "I-I . . . I didn't . . ."

"Dad?"

There was his twelve-year-old daughter, staring at him with tear-filled eyes. "Why didn't you save her, Dad?" she sobbed, her face reddening. "Why did you let them kill her?"

Luke wrapped his arms around Rey as tears streamed down his cheeks. "I'm sorry, sweetheart, but she was already brain-dead, she . . ."

"How do you KNOW?" Rey screamed. "How do you know she wouldn't have woken up if you kept her on the machines?"

There was a lump in Luke's throat, as fresh as when this happened the first time. "Rey . . ."

"You killed Mom!" Rey's voice sliced into his heart. "You KILLED her!"

"NO!"

. . .

Rey sat half-asleep on the couch, listening to the holonews drone on and on, inhaling her mother's flowery hand lotion. She felt like she could sink down into the cushions, down, down, down, into an eternity of softness.

"Getting tired, sweetheart?" the soothing, accented voice asked.

Rey forced her eyes open, feeling vaguely like something was wrong, though she couldn't tell what. "No, of course I'm not tired." She stretched her arms over her head and glanced down at her mother's arm, which was covered in red splotches.

"Mom?" she gasped. "What's wrong with your arm?"

Rianna looked nonchalantly at the splotches. "Oh, it's just a little rash. A little cream and it will be fine."

_Just a little rash._ With those words, Rey saw it in her head – her mother lying comatose in a hospital bed, the splotches covering her entire body. "Mom, wait!" she exclaimed. "It's _not_ just a rash!"

Rianna smiled at her daughter and patted her head. "Don't overreact, honey, I'm fine."

"No, you're NOT!" Rey grabbed Rianna's arm, feeling the rash's bumps under her fingers. "Mom, you're sick! You need to go to the hospital!"

"Rey, don't be silly. It's just a rash."

"Mom, _listen to me!"_ Rey stared into her mother's green eyes. "If this gets treated early, you might get better! Talk to Ben – he detected Dad's neurological imbalance a few years ago, maybe he could help you too!"

"Rey, you're being ridiculous."

"No, I'm NOT! You're SICK! You're going to DIE!"

"_Your mother was a fool."_

The voice seemed to come from inside Rey's mind, sending chills through her body. "Wh-who are you?"

"_Your mother was a fool. She knew something was wrong with her, but she did NOTHING."_

Suddenly _everything _poured into Rey's mind – how the rash didn't go away, how it spread, how she went to the hospital too late. "She . . . she wasn't a fool. She just didn't know anything was wrong with her."

"_She knew. She just refused to do anything about it until it was too late."_

"No . . ."

"_She didn't care enough about you to conquer her fear of a diagnosis."_

"NO!"

. . .

"Dantooine is too remote to make an effective demonstration, but don't worry. We will deal with your Rebel friends soon enough."

"No!" Leia gasped, but those, rough, metal hands held her in place, forcing her to look helplessly at her home's final moments, there one moment and blasted into billions of pieces the next – and some of those pieces were once her parents. The arms that held her, the faces that kissed her . . . now space dust.

"_You killed them . . ."_

Leia's breath devolved into short pants. "No . . . no . . ."

"_If you had told the truth, your planet would have been spared . . ."_

"Who are you?" Leia demanded, trying to lunge at whatever the voice was but finding that the metal grip still held her in place.

"Leia, why?"

She froze as the figures materialized in front of her. Bail and Breha, looking the same as they had when she last saw them alive, but instead of their warm smiles, their faces were hard, cold, scowling.

"You killed us," Breha said in an emotionless voice, her eyes staring blankly ahead.

"No . . . I didn't . . ."

"You killed us," Bail repeated in that same emotionless tone.

"No . . ." Leia lunged forward, reaching her arms out to her parents, but still the unyielding metal arms held her back.

Then came a sea of voices: hundreds, thousands, millions, all chanting the same thing.

"You killed us, you killed us, you killed us, you killed us . . ."

"NO!"

. . .

Proxima's goons whacked Han with their staffs, knocking him down into the sewage. His hands scraped against the floor as the sewage sloshed into his mouth and nose, the rancid taste of who-knew-what immediately stimulating his gag reflex and filling his mouth with _another_ rancid taste – this one the sharp, acidic taste of vomit.

"Pathetic," Proxima said as Han emptied his dinner into the sewage. "You are undoubtedly one of the most useless scumrats on all of Corellia. No wonder your parents didn't care about you."

Han struggled to his feet, his head spinning. "Leave . . . leave my parents outta this."

"Your parents left you with NOTHING when they died because they KNEW their son was a worthless, disgusting scumrat."

"SHUT UP!" Han dashed through the sewage in the Grindalid's direction, growling in rage, but Proxima seemed to vanish in the darkness.

"_Your parents provided nothing for you . . ."_

Han skidded to a halt. "Who the hell are you?"

"_Your parents cared nothing for their son, leaving him to become a scumrat on the streets."_

"They were POOR!" Han screamed, trying to ignore how his insides froze. "They couldn't AFFORD to provide anything!"

"_Do you know that? Or is it just an excuse you made up when they left you to starve?"_

"They wouldn't . . . they didn't! If they had any way to provide for me, they would've!"

"_You were a burden to them. Feeding you ruined them. They didn't WANT to provide for a worthless scumrat like you."_

"NO!"

. . .

Ben could feel his heart racing – if he examined himself as a patient he'd probably tell himself that he had to calm down and get his heart rate back to normal before he could leave, but right now his heart rate didn't matter. All that mattered was getting to the small pool of light in the otherwise pitch-black world, where his wife lay slumped, motionless.

"Ara!" he screamed, sliding to his knees and gathering her into his arms. "Sweetheart, are you all right? Did he hurt you? What's going on?"

Ara's face was pale, her lips cracked, her eyes red. "Ben?" she whispered.

"I'm here, Ara, I'm here!" He ran his hand down her face, her shoulder, her torso – but then his hand stopped cold when it reached her abdomen.

She was no longer pregnant.

"Ara?" he exclaimed. "What happened?"

"Oh, how touching."

Ben gulped, immediately recognizing the voice. He wrapped his arms protectively around his wife as he slowly, slowly looked up.

There was the dark version of himself, masked once again, but he wasn't the one who spoke. The dark Ben was standing next to a throne in which sat an aged, deformed, bald-headed man with scars creeping up and down his face. He was decked in black robes and holding the baby in his arms, grinning menacingly at Ben.

It was as if all the warmth instantly drained out of Ben's body. "You . . ." He could only manage a whisper. ". . . you're _him._ The voice in my head."

"Yes," the man hissed in the voice that stabbed Ben's ears like lightsabers. "You once knew me as 'the Guardian of the Dark,' but I have other names." He nodded at the dark version of Ben, still standing motionless next to the throne. "My followers know me as . . . Snoke."


	17. Chapter 17

AN: Thanks for reading and reviewing!

"The Pull to the Dark"

By EsmeAmelia

Chapter 17

Snoke.

Ben felt himself shivering. Previously, he hadn't been sure if the shadowy leader of the cult that called itself the "First Order" existed, though he'd heard rumors that the man gave himself a name that sounded like "smoke" to demonstrate how he couldn't be caught, yet he could strike out of nowhere.

"Snoke . . ." he whispered. "So you don't just want me. You want the _galaxy."_

"Our . . . our daughter's a _baby!"_ Ara spat, her voice raspy but full of venom. "How the hell can a _baby_ help you take over the galaxy?"

The man – Snoke – burst into laughter. "You little fool. I am a _patient_ man." He stroked the baby's head with slow, deliberate motions, as if he delighted in taunting her parents. "Yes . . . Skywalker may have meddled with my plans for your husband, but your daughter . . . _her _potential will be _fully _realized."

"You'll die first!" shouted Ara, pushing herself out of Ben's arms, though she immediately gripped her head after doing so, swaying slightly. "I won't let you hurt her . . ." Her voice remained full of venom even though her body collapsed back into her husband's arms.

There was a twitch in Ben's senses, a feeling that someone or something was missing. "My . . . my family," he whispered, realizing that they _should_ be here, though he wasn't sure why. "What did you do to my family?"

"They are distracted," the dark Ben said, his voice again made harsh and robotic by the mask.

Snoke ran his finger over the baby's forehead. "The mind, such an easy thing to penetrate, to manipulate. Give people a few glances of their own fears and they will fall victim to them, just like you did."

"We beat you before," Ben growled. "We'll do it again."

"Yes," Ara called, resting her head on Ben's shoulder but still glaring up at the throne. "You know what his family's capable of."

"His _family_ just needed a few memories to become distracted." Snoke was scowling at her as if she were a disgusting pest. "They don't remember what they're doing – they don't even remember where in _time_ they are."

"What did you do to them?" Ben demanded.

"_I _did very little. I merely activated some memories and fears. Their minds did the rest."

_Go find them!_ a voice in his mind screamed, but how could he leave his wife and child with this . . . this _monster?_ With a gulp, he looked at the dark version of himself, imagining his own eyes behind that expressionless mask. "You," he said, struggling to keep his voice steady, "if you're really me, then you should help them."

"They are weak," was all the dark Ben said.

_Weak,_ the word Ben had heard so much when the voice was still in his head. There was a time long ago when he _believed _what the voice said about his family being weak, how they couldn't protect him from the nightmares that invaded his mind. He once thought the voice was the only thing that would make him strong enough to banish the dreams.

"You're wrong," he said in a steady voice. "They're stronger than you or your master will _ever_ be."

"You can say that all you want, but it doesn't make it true," said the dark Ben. "If they're so strong, where are they _now?"_

"They can get out of whatever your master trapped them in."

"You think they'll come save their little boy from the big bad monster? How can they do that when they're trapped inside their _own_ nightmares?"

"Don't listen to him," Ara said, her voice still weak and raspy but still full of determination. "He wants to frighten you." She slowly raised her hand, pointing at the baby in Snoke's hands. "Our daughter, we need to focus on our _daughter."_

Ben knew she was right, though he couldn't deny the iciness in his stomach. He turned his focus away from his double and shifted it to his daughter, lying contently in Snoke's arms as if he were her father, which caused a seething rage to build up inside him. "She's not yours," he muttered.

Snoke gave a twisted, wicked smile, as if he just found the whole thing amusing. "_I_ will give her the power to rule the galaxy. What can _you_ give her?"

"Love."

The word sounded weak and pathetic the instant it came out of his mouth, but it was the strongest thing he could think of.

"Love," Snoke repeated as if he'd never heard of the concept. "You think you can _love_ the child back to you?"

"She's NOT YOURS!"

With that, Snoke flicked his fingers, sending Ben flying with the Force and slamming him against a wall that he hadn't even seen before. The invisible hands of the Force pressed him to the wall, compressing his chest and making it hard to breathe.

"BEN!" Ara screamed, struggling to her feet but only getting halfway to a standing position before Snoke pushed her against the wall across from him, her body twitching like a bug caught in a web.

"Ara!" Ben's voice came out in a gasping whisper, the pressure on his chest preventing him from shouting. "Ara . . ." Now there was pain, as if his chest were in a vice that was slowly crushing it.

"See how weak your parents are?" It took Ben a moment to realize that Snoke was talking not to him, but to the baby. "They cannot even protect themselves, yet alone you."

"You leave my daughter alone, you BASTARD!" Ara screamed, after which her face scrunched up in pain, her throat tightening.

Ben closed his eyes, trying to call on the Force, but he couldn't concentrate. The invisible grip seemed determined to embed him into the wall. By now his breath was so shallow that his head was spinning – maybe he was only seconds away from passing out. The only motion he could make was a slight twist of his hand.

And his fingers brushed something familiar in his pocket.

Dice . . .

The golden dice . . .

The lucky dice . . .

_Dad's_ lucky dice.

All his focus went to the dice as if they were the key to escaping. Dice. Dad. Dad's dice. Something . . . his family . . . they were supposed to do something. His family. Stuck somewhere. Their memories. Their minds. His mind. Minds.

Minds . . . connected.

He inhaled, his lungs painfully colliding with the invisible force. _Mom. Dad. Rey. Uncle Luke._ As he exhaled, he filled his mind with their faces, feeling their presence as if they were all holding hands.

_Mom, Dad, Rey, Uncle Luke . . . hear me . . . _He pinched the dice like a lifeline. _Hear me . . . wherever you are . . . you're not alone . . ._

_We're all together . . ._


	18. Chapter 18

AN: Thanks for reading and reviewing! This fic got a lot longer than originally planned, but that's how things go sometimes.

"The Pull to the Dark"

By EsmeAmelia

Chapter 18

In the real world, Ben was screaming.

Chewie rushed over to his side, running his paw through Ben's sweat-drenched hair, but that did nothing to alleviate his screams.

"I will awaken him," said one of the medical droids.

[No!] Chewie cried out, holding up his paw. [He needs more time, they all do!]

"He appears to be in distress," the droid continued as if it hadn't heard Chewie. "He could harm himself if he is not awakened!"

Chewie growled at the droid, baring his fangs as if daring the droid to come closer. [Something _else_ could harm him if he _is_ awakened, something you _can't _cure!]

"Chewbacca, I am programmed to do what I believe is best for my patients."

Chewie gathered the still-screaming Ben into his arms, shielding him from the droid. [And what is _best_ right now is to keep them asleep until they've defeated this thing!]

Ben's head jerked back as another scream emitted from his mouth, his body shaking in Chewie's arms, slamming against his torso and legs. [It's all right, Ben,] Chewie murmured, running his paw through Ben's hair again. [Whatever you're fighting, you're not alone.] His other paw squeezed the dice in Ben's pajama pocket. Lucky dice, Han always called them. Chewie of course didn't believe they were _actually _lucky, but if there was ever a time when their family needed every bit of luck they could get, now was it.

[Don't give up, Ben. Don't give up.]

. . .

Han lay face down on the concrete floor, his whole body aching, blood oozing from his nostrils, the gashes in his back, the cuts on his hands and face. His ears were buzzing, his head throbbing, it hurt to even think. What was the point of thinking, anyway? Thinking only reminded him of how his parents cared nothing for him and left him to starve in the streets. Hell, maybe they even wanted him to end up as Proxima's scumrat.

Scumrat, scumrat, scumrat, the word repeated itself in his mind as if trying to make his headache worse, as if someone were screaming it into his ears. He let out a long breath, but that made his lungs hurt. Usually he tried to get up after being beaten, but what was the point of getting up?

What was the point of _anything?_

There was a cloud in his mind, threatening to pull him down into blackness, and he didn't bother to fight it. Let him sink into oblivion. In fact, oblivion was preferable to this.

He slowly, painfully rolled over to his back, his eyes shut, the cloud swirling around in his head. Please, he begged, just let him fade away. His arms flopped to his sides, feeling like weights dragging his body down.

But then his finger brushed something in his pocket. Hard, cube-shaped, familiar.

_Ben . . ._

The word seemed to whisper through the fog. At first he didn't even remember what it meant, but still it persisted.

_Ben . . ._

No, no, the word meant nothing, stop, just let him sleep . . .

_Ben . . ._

It twitched in his head like an insect, refusing to go away, penetrating the fog.

_Ben . . ._

No . . . stop . . . please . . . go away . . .

_Ben . . ._

_Ben . . ._

_BEN!_

It was like a dam breaking, flooding Han's mind with memories. Escaping the White Worms, meeting Chewie, winning the Falcon, fighting in the Rebellion, marrying Leia, Ben's birth, driving the dark presence out of Ben's mind. Leia, Chewie, Luke, Rey, Ben!

Ben needed him!

He rolled back over to his stomach, pushing himself to his hands and knees, though it made his joins crack and sent fresh waves of pain through his body. "I'm comin', son," he whispered, though it increased the soreness in his dry throat. "Hold on."

Inch by painful inch, he pushed himself up, up, up, until he finally reached a standing position. Though his body wobbled, he gritted his teeth, fighting the swirling in his head. Ben needed him, Ben needed him, Ben needed him!

He broke into a run, not knowing where he was going, but confident that he knew how to get there.

. . .

_Ben . . ._

The word silently flowed through Leia's mind, piercing through the voices of the Alderaanian dead like a swimmer pushing through the ocean.

_Ben . . ._

"Ben," Leia whispered back, staring out at the empty space where Alderaan once was, her heart thumping. Suddenly she remembered, this happened decades ago. The dead were still dead, but her son . . .

Her son!

Ben!

With that, Leia broke into a run, jumping through the Death Star's viewport out into space. "Ben, I'm coming!" she shouted, free falling but confident that she would land where she needed to be.

. . .

"Mom!" Rey cried. "Please, talk to Ben . . . Ben . . . wait, _Ben!"_ She blinked as if waking from a dream. Slowly she lowered her head to look at her hands – _adult_ hands.

She wasn't twelve anymore . . . her mother died years ago . . .

This wasn't real . . .

This wasn't real!

"Ben . . ." she repeated. "BEN!"

She bolted out of the room.

. . .

Luke squeezed his dead wife's hand, tears streaming down his face. "I'm sorry, Rianna," he whispered. "I wish . . . I wish I could have done _something_ to stop this. I don't know why I don't have healing skills. If I did, maybe I could have saved you . . ."

He raised her cold, stiff hand to his lips and kissed it, some irrational part of him wishing that his kiss would bring life back to her. How could this have happened? Wasn't there _something _someone could have done? _Something?_

_Ben . . ._

Luke's grip on her hand didn't relax, but the word twitched around in his mind.

_Ben . . ._

Ben, his nephew still in medical school, who wasn't able to help . . .

Wait, that wasn't right.

Ben _graduated _medical school.

_Years_ ago . . .

Rianna was still dead, but . . . his family needed him!

Ben needed him.

Luke swallowed. "It's all right, sweetheart," he whispered, kissing his wife's cold head. "Our family is still strong, but right now I need to help them. I know you understand that."

With that, he dropped her hand and rushed out of the hospital, letting the Force guide him to where he needed to be.


	19. Chapter 19

AN: Thanks as always for reading and reviewing!

"The Pull to the Dark"

By EsmeAmelia

Chapter 19

Ben couldn't move, couldn't open his eyes, could hardly breathe. His wife and daughter were _somewhere_ – he felt their presence through the Force – but he couldn't tell where. The invisible pressure was consuming him, enveloping him, pressing down as if it wanted to compress him into nothing.

He couldn't even tell if he was screaming or not.

"Dad?"

The voice shot into his darkness like an arrow, unfamiliar, yet he felt an instant connection with it.

"Dad, open your eyes."

It was like the voice suddenly granted him new energy. Though the rest of him still couldn't move, his eyes snapped open, revealing the source of the voice.

A young woman stood before him, black hair tied back in a ponytail, eyes glowing an inhuman yellow, dressed in a black bodysuit and cape, the mask worn by the dark Ben tucked under one arm, the silver hilt of a lightsaber dangling from her belt.

"It's all right, Dad," she said in a silky voice. "You don't have to worry."

Ben's insides turned to ice. "No . . . no . . ."

"Dad, you just don't understand." The woman was _smiling_ – not a wicked grin, but a gentle, daughterly smile, as if she were merely telling her father that yes, she loved the boy she was dating even if her father didn't like the way he dressed.

"Sweetheart, don't do this . . ."

"Dad, look at you," she continued as if he hadn't spoken. "You grew up so _afraid._ Afraid to sleep, afraid to dream, afraid of things that went bump in the night. Afraid of _your own mind._ Do you really want me to grow up afraid like you did?"

"Of course not," Ben gasped out, his dry throat hurting with every word, "but you _don't _have to be afraid."

"You're right, I _don't._ I never did. Unlike you, _I_ don't fear the dark side. _I _realize how useless it is to weigh our actions by these abstract concepts of 'good' and 'evil.'" Her yellow eyes stared into his. "The power of the _whole_ Force flows through me, not just half of it."

"Honey, that's Snoke talking, not you . . ."

With that, the woman dropped the mask, called the lightsaber to her hand with the Force, and ignited it, revealing the fiery cross-shaped blade Ben had seen in his dreams. "What do you know about me? I'm not even _born_ yet!" She stepped back and pointed the blade at him, the tip inches away from his throat. "You call me _sweetheart _and _honey_, but you haven't even _named _me yet. You've only decided that you love me because you contributed half my DNA."

"We _do_ love you, sweetheart!" Ara called from somewhere, probably still pinned against the wall like Ben was. "Even if you _did_ turn to the dark side, we'd still love you!"

"Well that's a really _stupid _love, then," the woman said without looking at her mother. "Love based on genetics and nothing else."

"Exactly," said Snoke in a low, hissing voice. "See your daughter, Solo. Strong. Confident. Powerful. All the things she _couldn't _be with you."

"SHUT UP!" Ara yelled.

Ben wanted to yell with her, to curse Snoke for all he'd done and all he was still doing, but the heat of the flaming blade and the glare of his daughter's yellow eyes silenced him.

"I could kill you," she muttered. "I could kill you and feel nothing.

It took a painful amount of effort against the pressure, but Ben still managed to shake his head. "I don't believe that," he whispered.

Snoke was cackling. "This has gotten _beyond _pointless. Apprentice, kill him."

"NO!" Ara screamed. "Sweetheart, you _know _you don't want to do this."

"And what do you _know _about what I want and don't want?" their daughter snarled. "You don't know _anything _about me!"

"Sweetheart, listen," Ben gasped. "He just wants you for your power. He cares nothing for _you."_

"Enough!" shouted Snoke and with that the pressure released Ben, sending him collapsing to the floor. Instinctively, he took in a large breath, large enough to make his lungs hurt. Still his daughter's lightsaber hummed in his ears. Maybe she was about to kill him. Maybe he should try to get away, but his muscles felt like they were dissolving. Everything hurt.

"Hey you, get away from my boy!"

That voice. _That _voice. The voice that comforted him as a child, gave him strength as an adult, made him laugh, always let him know he wasn't alone.

"Who are you?" the woman exclaimed.

Despite everything, Ben almost felt like smiling. "He's your grandfather."

"WHAT?" Snoke screamed.

There was no time to respond before Han slid down to Ben's side, grabbing his hand. "Are you all right, son? Did he hurt you?"

"Not too much," said Ben. "Listen, that woman there with the lightsaber, she's my daughter!"

"_What?"_

"I don't understand either, but we have to help her!"

Now the woman's lightsaber pointed down at both of them. "Hiding behind Daddy, are you?"

Han stared up at her, cocking his head. "Hey, if you're really my granddaughter, then . . . then you and I are gonna have a lotta fun together after you're born. I'll take you flyin' in the Falcon, we'll go out for ice cream, we'll go to pod races together, all the stuff I did with your dad when he was a kid, I'll do with you too. Doesn't that sound like more fun than bein' that guy's slave?"

"I am NO ONE'S slave!"

"You're right, you're not," Ara intervened, slowly crawling up to them. "You can _choose_ who you want to be right now."

"But you want me to _choose_ to be weak and terrified – like my _father!"_

"Yes," said Snoke. "They want you to be weak. Look at your father right now, trembling and sniveling as we speak."

"HEY!" shouted Han. "Whoever the hell you are, you DON'T talk about my Ben like that! He's damn stronger than you'll _ever _be. You know why? Cause unlike you, he ain't afraid of love and emotion. He gets scared sometimes, yeah, but he knows that's _okay!_ He knows it _doesn't _make him weak and it's all part of bein' human."

Snoke chuckled as if it was all a big joke. "This is ridiculous. Apprentice, kill them, starting with your father."

Ben couldn't deny that he was indeed trembling and that the lightsaber's heat was making sweat drizzle down his face. "Is this what you want?" he asked in a small voice.

"Listen to your father," another familiar voice said. "_Is _this what you want?"

All heads turned and there was Leia, stepping up to her family with a fierce look on her face, Luke and Rey close behind her.

"Who are _you?"_ the woman asked, her voice almost as small as her father's.

"Your grandmother," said Leia. "And this is your great uncle and your cousin."

"Oh, this is _lovely_," said Snoke, now descending from the throne and walking up to the family. "Your minds are stronger than I realized, but no matter. You all still embarked on a foolish endeavor." He strode over to his apprentice and stroked her shoulder with slow, deliberate movements. "As you can see, my apprentice needs _none of you."_

"No, I don't," she said, though Ben thought he detected a hint of hesitation in her voice. Was that real or just wishful thinking?

"I drove you out of Ben's mind," Luke said, his eyes narrowed at Snoke. "I'll drive you out of her mind too!"

"Really?" asked Snoke. "And just how will you do that if you _never wake up?"_

With that, he shot out his hand in Luke's direction and the Jedi Master went flying, smashing his head against the wall and collapsing in a heap.

"DAD!" Rey screamed, running up to her father and gathering his unconscious body in her arms.

Snoke laughed again. "See how easily _distracted _attachment makes you?" With a flick of his fingers, Rey was choking, her eyes bulging, her face paling.

"Stop it!" Ben yelled before his cousin collapsed on top of her father.

Leia, meanwhile, turned her attention once more to her granddaughter. "So you want to be a _monster_ like him?" She gestured wildly in Luke and Rey's direction. "Is _this _what you want your life to be?"

But it only took another flick of Snoke's fingers to send Leia crashing into the wall too.

"LEIA!" Han shouted, but another Force-push from Snoke pinned him to the floor.

"You're weak," the apprentice whispered, "you're all weak."

"Listen," said Ben, "I once thought like you. I thought my family was too weak to fight the thing in my mind and that I needed Snoke's help to overcome it, but I was WRONG."

The apprentice kept glaring down at her father, but the lightsaber was starting to tremble in her hand.

"L-look," Han gasped out from the floor, sounding like he was struggling with every word, "this asshole just wants a tool. He wants you so he can take over the galaxy, and what do you think he'll do once he's got the galaxy and doesn't need you anymore?"

"Yes, listen to your grandfather," Ara said in a raspy voice. "Snoke won't love you. He'll care _nothing _for you. You have your whole life in front of you – _literally _your whole life. Now's your chance to choose what kind of life you want."

The apprentice swallowed.

"We all love you, sweetheart," said Ben. "Call it love based on genetics all you want, but it doesn't change the fact that we all love you."

Snoke groaned. "Enough of this. Apprentice, kill them NOW."

The apprentice swallowed again as she raised the lightsaber over her head . . .

. . . and plunged it into Snoke's chest.


	20. Chapter 20

AN: Thanks as always for reading and reviewing.

"The Pull to the Dark"

By EsmeAmelia

Chapter 20

Snoke could only let out a loud gasp before he collapsed. The apprentice stared at him, panting as if she couldn't believe what she just did. She extinguished her lightsaber and threw it on top of his body, swallowing repeatedly.

Then she collapsed too.

"NO!" Ben yelled, crawling up to his daughter, ignoring the pain as he gathered her into her arms.

She was coughing, her body trembling. "I-It's . . . it's all right, Dad. I think I'm going to be born soon."

"Born?" Ara exclaimed. "You're not due for a month!"

Their daughter snickered a little. "I guess I'm already surprising you."

The rest of the family was gathering around them – Ben supposed he shouldn't be surprised that Snoke's influence on them vanished with him. "Snoke . . . did you kill him?"

"I-I killed him _here._ He's alive somewhere in the physical world, but he's gone from our minds."

Leia ran her finger through her granddaughter's hair. "I'll make sure the Republic tracks down Snoke and the First Order he leads. He won't win, I promise."

"The dark Ben," Ara exclaimed as if she only now remembered him. "What happened to him?"

The daughter swallowed. "I merged into him when Snoke took over my mind. He's gone too." She flinched, sucking air into her mouth. "You . . . you all need to wake up soon so I can be born."

Rey swallowed too. "Will you remember this when you're born?"

The daughter gave a pained smile. "Of course not, silly – I'm a _baby._ But _you_ will all remember this." She closed her eyes, leaning back into her father's torso. "It will be an interesting story to tell me someday . . ."

"Sweetheart!" Ara exclaimed, grabbing her daughter's hand.

The daughter's eyes opened slightly, as if the action in itself was a struggle. "There's . . . there's something I'd like to know before I'm born, though . . ."

"Yes," said Ben, "anything."

She took in a large inhale. "What's my name?"

Ben gulped, looking around at his family as if one of them would have the answer. Though he and Ara had known their daughter's gender for weeks, they hadn't yet decided on a name and they eventually planned not to name her until they actually saw her in person.

Then his eyes rested on Han, who was stroking his granddaughter's cheek.

Han, who had always believed in Ben when Ben didn't believe in himself.

Han, who had sacrificed several years to live with Ben during his Jedi training.

Han, who had discovered that sharing dreams was possible.

Han, who had stood up against Snoke to defend his son and granddaughter.

"Hanna," Ben murmured, quickly looking at his wife. "Ara, what do you think of Hanna?"

Ara grinned. "Well, _I _like it if her namesake agrees."

Han was glancing downward as if slightly embarrassed, but there was no mistaking his huge grin. "Are you kidding? Of _course _I like it!"

Now their daughter – Hanna – was grinning as well. "Hanna . . . yes, that's a good name." She gave her grandfather another pained smile. "Remember, you promised ice cream trips and pod races."

"Absolutely," said Han.

She flinched again. "Now hurry, you need to wake up . . ."

Ara quickly leaned over and kissed her daughter's forehead. "I'll see you soon, Hanna, my sweet little Hanna-nanna."

Ben planted his own kiss on Hanna's forehead, already feeling this world starting to peel away, the waking world hovering above him, as if he were holding his breath underwater and would need to surface in a few seconds. "I love you Hanna, I can't wait to meet you in the real world."

Then everything dissolved into blackness.

. . .

Ben's eyes slowly blinked open, a yawn escaping his lips, his mind in a daze. The smell of antiseptic filled his nostrils, reminding him of where he was. Snoke, Ara, his family, his dark self, his dark daughter . . .

The baby!

_Hanna._

[Ben! You're awake!]

It was only a second before Chewie gathered Ben up into his arms, pressing him against his big furry chest. The familiar thick Wookiee smell helped calm Ben's nerves, if only a little bit.

[Are you all right?] Chewie asked.

"I think so," Ben murmured. "I think we all are, but . . . wait, she said she was going to be born soon – is Ara awake? Is she in labor?"

"Mrs. Solo is awake, Dr. Solo," said one of the medical droids. "She also appears to have had her first contraction a few minutes ago."

With that, Ben pushed himself out of the embrace and leaped out of bed. A quick glance around the room revealed that Han, Leia, Luke, and Rey were also awake, though their eyelids were still drooping and a few yawns were escaping.

And there was Ara, sitting up in the bed, her hand on her pregnant stomach, blinking slowly, but smiling.

"Ara," Ben exclaimed in a relieved voice, giving his wife a quick kiss on the lips. "Are you all right?"

"Better now that you're awake," said Ara. "Those droids are about to stick an IV in me and I'd much rather you do it."

Ben found himself snickering a bit as he nodded. "Of course." He turned to the droid who was pushing an IV stand up to the bed. "I can do that," he said. "I'm not trained as a maternity doctor, but I can help you with things like taking her temperature and blood pressure and setting up her IV."

"Of course, Dr. Solo," said the droid. "We would be pleased to have your help." The droid pulled a hand-sanitizing wipe and a pair of rubber gloves out of his body compartment and handed them to Ben, who immediately sanitized his hands and snapped on the gloves, not caring if he didn't look the part of a doctor right now. Whether dressed in pajamas or a doctor's coat, this was his life, caring for those who needed it.

Ara took a deep breath as Ben swabbed up her arm. "Hanna was right, she wants to be born now . . . wait, you _were_ actually there, right? That wasn't just a weird dream I had, right?"

Ben smiled at her as he pressed down on her arm and gently inserted the needle, making her flinch only slightly. "It was a weird dream all right, but we _all_ had it."

Ara smiled back at him. "Then let's get ready to _properly _meet our Hanna."

. . .

Hours went by. Hours of the family pacing, trying to keep Ara comfortable, waiting on edge for the next contraction. Even though the droids had urged Ben to get dressed, his clothes were still beginning to gum up with sweat despite the coolness in the room.

Leia and Han told stories about how nerve-racking Ben's birth was, how Han jumped at every little noise Leia made and his constant attempts to keep Leia comfortable only stressed her out even more, which made Ara laugh, but it didn't exactly make Ben comfortable.

"Come on, honey, lighten up," Ara said. "After all, Hanna's mind is gonna be blown when we tell her the story of _her_ birth."

"True," said Ben.

Later on, Luke and Rey led Ara in some basic Jedi breathing exercises to help keep her calm as the pain increased. Ara was skeptical about how helpful it would be at first, but in the words of Han, "You don't need the Force to know how to breathe." And sure enough, she did seem to relax a bit after the exercises.

The rest of the family went to the cafeteria for meals, but Ben had his meals brought to him so he could stay with his wife. Of course, the droids and Ara still had to encourage him to eat since he was so preoccupied with his wife's labor.

Finally, the droids informed him that it was almost time. Ben wrapped his arms around his wife's torso, wiping her pale, sweat-drenched brow. "Are you ready?" he asked.

"I'd better be, because this HURTS LIKE HELL!" shouted Ara before crying out in pain.

"You must push, Mrs. Solo," said one of the droids.

"I am, I AM!"

Ben kept his arms on his wife as she pushed and pushed and pushed. "Hang in there, sweetheart," he murmured. "Hang in there." Secretly he was telling himself to hang in there too. Even though he wasn't specifically trained for childbirth, his days in medical school had still taught him how fragile the human body was and how there were a million things that could go wrong . . .

But then . . . a baby's cry.

"Congratulations, it's a girl," the droid announced.

Ben held his breath as he slowly turned his head. The tiny girl the droid was holding was soaked in bodily fluids that another droid was cleaning off, she was giving an ear-piercing wail, her shock and confusion from leaving the womb flowing from her through the Force, but to Ben she was one of the most beautiful things he had ever seen.

"Hanna," Ara gasped with a happy sob.

A smile burst onto Ben's face, perhaps his biggest smile in a long time. "Hanna."

AN: There will be one more chapter, so stay tuned.


	21. Chapter 21

AN: Last chapter! Thanks to everyone who read and favorited this story!

"The Pull to the Dark"

By EsmeAmelia

Chapter 21

Ben helped the droids clean the baby, cut her umbilical, and give her an examination. Though she was a month early, she seemed to be healthy and have no abnormalities. Once they were finished, Ben wrapped her up in a periwinkle blanket and handed her to Ara.

"Here she is, our Hanna," murmured Ben.

Ara sucked in her breath as she took the baby into her arms. "Hey there, Hanna-nanna, I'm your mommy." A tear streamed down her cheek. "You're so beautiful, so beautiful . . ."

Ben reached over and rubbed his daughter's pudgy little cheek, touching her as a _father_, not a doctor. "Hi Hanna, I'm your daddy." His own eyes filled with tears, blurring his sight and meaning he had to wipe his eyes before he could get a good look at his daughter. "You have no idea how happy I am to see you."

The baby blinked up at him, giving him fleeting glances at her light blue eyes. He ran his finger through the damp little tuft of dark hair that he had seen so many times in his dreams, but unlike in his dreams, this time he didn't feel anything out to get her.

"She looks like her mommy," Ben murmured.

"Oh? I think she looks like her daddy," said Ara. She leaned over and planted a gentle kiss on her daughter's forehead. "Ben . . . she said Snoke was still alive in the physical world . . . does that mean he could still try to get her? Or other children we might have?"

Ben swallowed. During Ara's labor, he had intentionally refrained from bringing Snoke up and hoped that no one else would, but now that the labor was over, he didn't have the excuse of not wanting to increase her stress. "I don't know," he admitted.

Hanna gave a tiny squeal, maybe because she didn't want to hear about Snoke or maybe because she was just hungry. Ara chose to interpret that as her being hungry and discreetly pulled down the strap of her hospital gown so Hanna could drink. "Come on Hanna-nanna, time for some yummy milk."

At first Hanna just looked at her mother's nipple as if unsure what it was for, but then as Ara nudged it gently towards her mouth, she figured out what to do and started drinking.

"Look how her cheeks puff up," Ara cooed. "Isn't she cute?"

Ben couldn't stop himself from smiling at his daughter's little cheeks puffing in and out as she drank. "I think it will take me a while to get used to how cute she is."

They watched their daughter nurse for a few minutes, not speaking, content to just admire their daughter, but even watching Hanna nurse couldn't completely banish Snoke from their minds.

"If she could kill him in her mind once, maybe she could do it again if he were to try again," Ara said.

"I hope," said Ben, once again stroking his daughter's hair. "And if he _does _try again, he'll have to get through all of us."

"_That_ should terrify him," said Ara.

. . .

Ara didn't want her extended family watching her give birth, and they respected her wishes of course, but damn, it was stressful. Han would say this was the most stressed-out he'd been since Ben was born, but they'd driven Snoke away not once but _twice_, so this couldn't really be put in the same category. Still, sitting in the Temple's entrance hall and waiting for news wasn't Han's idea of fun, especially when just hours ago, he had woken up from a shared dream in which they had to fight an evil psycho out to take over the galaxy.

Was it over now?

He swallowed, gripping Leia's hand with his good hand, which she squeezed back, giving him a reassuring look. She had promised that the senate would make finding Snoke and defeating the First Order their top priority, but would the senate listen? He glanced at his broken wrist – maybe he should present that as evidence.

"You may come in now."

The medical droid interrupted his thoughts. Immediately he flew to his feet, ignoring the cracks in his joints, though everyone else rushed to their feet as well. "Is the baby here?" he exclaimed. "Is everyone okay?"

"Both the baby and her parents are in good health," said the droid. "You may go see them now, after you sanitize your hands, of course."

Leia grinned at her husband, again squeezing his uninjured hand. "Come on, let's go meet our granddaughter properly."

. . .

Han gulped as he and the others entered the medical ward. Ara was sitting up in bed, talking to her parents on the comm – with a bundle in her arms. He wondered if maybe he shouldn't be looking at the bundle yet when Ara was still talking to her parents, so instead, he wrapped his good arm around his son.

"Well, I see you survived," Han said, patting Ben's shoulder. "How does it feel to be a dad?"

"Honestly, I'm still processing it," said Ben.

"Yeah, I remember that," said Han. "After all those months of preparation, you can't believe your baby's actually here and even though you had all those months, you feel like you didn't prepare enough." He patted Ben's shoulder again. "But hey, I'm here to give you Daddy advice whenever you need it."

"Thanks."

"Yes Mom, we'll definitely be visiting you soon," Ara was saying. "Anyway, I'm gonna have to let you go – I think Hanna's other grandparents want to meet her too."

Ben grinned at Han as Ara and her parents said goodbye. "Well, it's time."

Han, Ben, Leia, Luke, Rey, and Chewie all gathered around the bed, gazing down at the tiny bundle. "Everyone, meet Hanna," Ara said, gently peeling a corner of the blanket away from the baby's face. "Hanna, this is your family."

A chorus of "awwww" went through the family. Han felt his heart lifting at the sight of those little eyes that seemed to be astonished at what she was seeing. His eyes started welling up, briefly flashing him back to the day Ben was born, when he'd held his little son for the first time and his mind was in a whirl at the very idea that the baby was here, that he could _see _his son after so many months of imagining him, that he really _was_ a father.

"She's beautiful," Rey murmured, reaching down and touching the baby's little head. "Hello Hanna, I'm your cousin Rey. Maybe I'll teach you about the Force someday."

"If she _wants_ to be trained as a Jedi," said Luke.

"I didn't say train her as a Jedi, I said teach her about the Force," said Rey.

"Yes," said Ben, "there's a difference."

Ara held up her hand. "Okay, okay, there will be plenty of time to discuss the Force later. For now, who wants to hold her first?"

Ben glanced over at Han. "Well, I _would_ say that her namesake should hold her first, but . . ."

Han knew what his son was getting at. "But it might be difficult for her namesake to hold her right now," he said, holding up his broken wrist. "Well, small price to pay to save her soul, so why doesn't her grandma hold her?"

"Yes," said Leia, "why doesn't her grandma hold her?"

Ben gently lifted his daughter out of Ara's arms and placed her in Leia's. The grandmother just smiled down at her new granddaughter for several seconds before she said, "Hello there, Hanna, I'm your grandma. I know you don't remember what you did when our minds were all connected, but I'm so _very _proud of you – and I'm also proud of your daddy, of course." She tilted her arms a tiny bit to give Han a good look at the baby. "And this is your grandpa. He can be crazy and irritating, but he's got a beautiful heart under it all. There's a reason why you're named after him."

Han stroked the baby's cheek with his good hand. "Hey there, sweetie. I can't wait to take you for rides on the Falcon when you're big enough. In fact, I'll teach you to fly her too. I'll spoil you so rotten that I'll get in trouble with your parents."

Leia grinned at her husband. "We're grandparents."

"Yeah," Han said in amazement, "we're grandparents."

. . .

Eventually the family left so the new parents could get some much-needed rest. Little Hanna had fallen asleep in the bassinette that the droids set up for her and right now, as the sun was setting, Ben just gazed at her, watching her little chest rise and fall, marveling at how tightly she shut her eyes, admiring her tiny hands, her tiny nose, everything about her, really.

Then he felt his wife's arm wrapping around him.

"Isn't she amazing?" Ara murmured.

"Yes," said Ben, wrapping his own arm around her, "but didn't you want to get some sleep?"

"I wanted another look at her first," said Ara. "Just to make sure that she's real."

Ben felt a smile creep across his face. "She's real, all right. We might not ever get used to it, but she's real."

"And she's got such a great daddy," said Ara, resting her head on his shoulder. "How many other fathers go into shared dreams to save their kids when they're still in utero?" She yawned. "All right, I'm ready for sleep _without _creepy shared dreams now. How about you?"

"I'm not sure if I'll be able to sleep, but I'll come to bed with you and see."

After the new parents got into bed, it didn't take Ara long to fall asleep, but Ben lay in silence for a while afterwards, just lingering in his wife and daughter's presence in the Force. "Such a great daddy," Ara had said in such confidence, but Ben still didn't know how well he would live up to that statement. Hanna's entire life was in front of them now and there were a million different directions it could go.

"I love you, Hanna," he whispered, sending his words through the Force to his daughter even though she wouldn't understand them yet. Even if she didn't understand the words, she might feel the emotion behind them. "We're all here for you, sweetheart. Always."

Eventually he drifted off to sleep, and for the first time in a while, he had peaceful dreams.

THE END


End file.
